"Externally merely a swelling green mound, like so many others in

Sylt, entrance is gained by a trap-door in the roof, and descending

a steep ladder, one finds himself in a subterranean chamber some

seventeen by ten feet in size, the walls of which are twelve huge

blocks of Swedish granite; the height of the roof varies from five

feet to six feet. The original entrance appears to have been a long

narrow passage seventeen feet long and about two feet wide and high.

This mound was examined by a Hamburg professor in 1868, who found

remains of a fire-place, bones of a small man, some clay urns, and

stone weapons."

This example, then, of the abode of one of the "Feens of Lochlan,"

corresponds exactly with Maes-how and all similar "_sheeans_." And,

like them, it is locally remembered as the residence of a dwarf.

This, of course, is tradition. But the northern sagas (though

"tradition" also) are accepted as "history," in some degree. And the

sagas bear a like record. Their heroes break into those dwellings,

make their entrance by the hole at the bottom of the "crater," and

attack the inhabitants, who, seizing their weapons, defend their

lives and (in many cases) their treasures. And before leaving the

"hollow hill" of Maes-how, it may be stated that this particular

_broch_, or _sheean_, is believed to have been invaded about a

thousand years ago. It was entered in the twelfth century by some of

those North-men who were on their way to the Holy Land; and these

have incised various inscriptions on its inner walls. But at that

date it was empty--and had been rifled many centuries before. One

legendary tale places the date of its original despoliation as far

back as the year 920; and states that "Olaf the Norseman" was its

invader; and that he encountered its possessor, whom he

overcame--after a deadly struggle. And, since "the common tradition

of the country [up to the year 1861, when it was reopened]

represented it as the abode of a goblin, who was named 'the

Hog-boy'," it would seem that the prevailing blood of the

country-people in that district is akin to that of this "Olaf the

Norseman;" and that, therefore, in this instance, the popular memory

reaches back for nearly a thousand years, with the most perfect

precision.[190]

The Ross-shire _Tombuidhe_, the Sylt _Denghoog_; and this Orcadian

_broch_ are all specimens of the one class; and, both as regards the

character of the dwellers and the dwellings, they have many

counterparts. How many we do not yet know. It is probable that, in

the British Islands alone, they may be numbered by thousands (and we

need not here speculate as to the continent of Europe, and other

parts of the globe). Colonel Forbes Leslie, referring only to

Scotland, says that "even in the present day many a green mound ...

is shunned by sturdy peasants who would not fear the hostility of

any mortal"--and this because that mound once contained one or more

people of a race of whom that peasant's ancestors stood greatly in

awe. That the valleys of the Forth and Teith alone contain a great

number of those "green hillocks," as yet unexamined, has been stated

by an eminent investigator of the Scotch _brochs_, Dr. Joseph

Anderson. How many other districts can tell a similar story is a

problem that will some day be solved.

The collector (who is, to a great extent, the exponent also) of the

"Popular Tales of the West Highlands," appends several very

interesting remarks to one of these stories: that of "The Smith and

the Fairies" (vol. ii. pp. 46-55). Among other things he says: "The

belief that the 'hill' opened on a certain night, and that a light

shone from the inside, where little people might be seen dancing,

was too deeply grounded some years ago to be lightly spoken of; ...

'In the glebe of Kilbrandon in Lorn is a hill called Crocan Corr ...

where the fairies ... were often seen dancing around their fire.'"

And reference is also made to "a certain hill in Muckairn, known to

be the residence of the fairies." The incident connected with it is

capped with a similar one "told of a hill called Ben-cnock in

Islay;" and "another hill, called Cnock-doun" (presumably in Islay),

has a like history. But such "hills" are too numerous to mention in

detail.

Owing to the great mass of earth which was heaped over the

dwelling--the actual "kernel" of the mound--it will be seen that

new-comers of another race from the mound-dwellers might build

houses, or bury their dead, above the homes of the "little people,"

without being aware that the hill they were so utilizing was

entirely of artificial origin. Nor are there wanting illustrations

of this in fact and in tradition. Legendary lore, indeed, is

full of incidents arising from the contact, often unexpected on

the one side, of the two races; and many such tales reveal the

mound-dwellers in a very homely light. The following story from the

Hebridean island of Barra, for example:

"There was a woman in Baile Thangasdail, and she was out

seeking a couple of calves; and the night and lateness

caught her, and there came rain and tempest, and she was

seeking shelter. She went to a knoll with the couple of

calves, and she was striking the tether-peg into it. The

knoll opened. She heard a gleegashing as if a pot-hook were

clashing beside a pot. She took wonder, and she stopped

striking the tether-peg. A woman put out her head and all

above her middle, and she said, 'What business hast thou to

be troubling this tulman in which I make my dwelling?' 'I

am taking care of this couple of calves, and I am but weak.

Where shall I go with them?' 'Thou shalt go with them to

that breast down yonder. Thou wilt see a tuft of grass. If

thy couple of calves eat that tuft of grass, thou wilt not

be a day without a milk cow as long as thou art alive,

because thou hast taken my counsel.'"[191]

This story exemplifies the well-known prophetic or "supernatural"

powers of the dwarf races, while at the same time it presents the

"fairy abode" to us in a very matter-of-fact light. Equally homely

and matter-of-fact is this story from Wigtownshire:--

"A shepherd's family had just taken possession of a

newly-erected onstead, in a very secluded spot among 'the

hills o' Gallowa,' when the goodwife was, one day,

surprised by the entrance of a little woman, who hurriedly

asked for the loan of a 'pickle saut.' This, of course, was

readily granted; but the goodwife was so flurried by the

appearance of 'a neibor' in such a lonely place, and at

such a very great distance from all known habitations, that

she did not observe when the little woman withdrew or which

way she went. Next day, however, the same little woman

re-entered the cottage, and duly paid the borrowed 'saut.'

This time the goodwife was more alert, and as she turned to

replace 'the saut in the sautkit' she observed 'wi' the

tail o' her e'e' that the little woman moved off towards

the door, and then made a sudden 'bolt out.' Following

quickly, the goodwife saw her unceremonious visitor run

down a small declivity towards a tree, which stood at 'the

house en'.' [She passed behind the tree, but did not emerge

on the other side, and the "goodwife," seeing no place of

concealment, assumed she was a fairy.] In a few days her

little 'neibor' again returned, and continued from time to

time to make similar visits--borrowing and lending small

articles, evidently with a view to produce an intimacy; and

it was uniformly remarked that, on retiring, she proceeded

straight to the tree, and then suddenly 'ga'ed out o'

sight.' One day, while the goodwife was at the door,

emptying some dirty water into the _jaw-hole_ [sink, or

cess-pool], her now familiar acquaintance came to her and

said: 'Goodwife, ye're really a very obliging bodie! Wad ye

be sae good as turn the lade o' your jaw-hole anither way,

as a' your foul water rins directly in at my door? It

stands in the howe there, on the aff side o' that tree, at

the corner o' your house en'.' The mystery was now fully

cleared up--the little woman was indeed a fairy; and the

door of her invisible habitation, being situated 'on the

aff side o' the tree at the house en',' it could easily be

conceived how she must there necessarily 'gae out o' sight'

as she entered her sight-eluding portal."

This story[192] relates to a district that is noted as being one of

the very latest to retain a population that was distinctively

Pictish, and it unquestionably offers a parallel to that of the

"Gudeman o' Villenshaw," and the "elves i' the knock that bade." In

either case, we have the arrival of a new-comer of another race, all

unconscious that the place is already inhabited by an earlier,

mound-dwelling[193] people.

Of houses built upon the summit or the slope of a fairy hill a

modern instance is furnished by Hugh Miller, in his reminiscences of

Sutherlandshire ("My Schools and Schoolmasters," 1881 ed., p. 108),

wherein he mentions that a cousin of his had built his house

"half-way up the slope of a beautiful tomhan,"[194] which was

regarded as a fairy residence. This "tomhan" appears to have been

near Lairg, and in "the Barony of Gruids." The neighbouring

countryfolk had expected that "the little people" inside the hill

would resent this intrusion on their privacy, but, of course,

nothing of this kind happened--as this occurred in the present

century, when the mound-dwelling Pechts lived only in the memory of

those by whose forefathers they had once been greatly dreaded. But

there are various traditional accounts which point to a time when

members of the intruding race, unaware that the hillock on which

they began to build was itself a building, were obliged to desist by

reason of the opposition of the dwarfs. Thus, a former Grant of

Ballindalloch, in Strathspey, who attempted to build his castle upon

a mound, found every morning that the previous day's work had been

undone, and the stones removed from the site. One night, while he

watched for these disturbers, he heard a voice bid him to "build on

the Cow Haugh," or meadow, which he accordingly did, without further

interruption.[195] A similar account is given in connection with a

hill in Aberdeenshire. "When the workmen were engaged in erecting

the ancient church of Old Deer, in Aberdeenshire, upon a small hill

called Bissau, they were surprised to find that the work was impeded

by supernatural obstacles. At length the Spirit of the River (says

Sir Walter Scott, who tells the story[196]) was heard to say,--

"It is not here, it is not here,

That ye shall build the church of Deer;

But on Taptillery,

Where many a corpse shall lie."

The site of the edifice was accordingly transferred to Taptillery,

an eminence at some distance from the place where the building had

been commenced." In this case the interruption merely took the shape

of a warning, but the midnight work in the former instance is

entirely in keeping with all that tradition says of the Pechts.[197]

Hugh Miller again points out a fairy locality, when referring to a

boating excursion on Loch Maree, in 1823, on which occasion he

learned from the boatman that one of the islands, _Eilean Suthainn_,

was the annual rendezvous of the fairies, where they paid to their

queen the yearly "kain" or tribute, due to "the Evil One." This

reference is quoted by the author of "Gairloch,"[198] who also

states:

"In Gairloch we have Cathair Mhor and Cathair Bheag, names

applied to several places; and the Sitheanan Dubha on Isle

Ewe and on the North Point. There is Cathair Mhor at the

head of Loch Maree, and Cathair Bheag (the Gaelic name of

the place) at Kerrysdale. These names mean respectively the

big and little seats of the fairies....

"The name Sitheanan Dubha signifies the black knowes or

hillocks of the fairies. It is applied to two places in

Gairloch, viz., to the highest hill-tops at the north end

of Isle Ewe, and to a low hill and small round loch a full

mile due north of Carn Dearg house."

Further south than Loch Maree, and situated in the deer-forest of

Mamore, in the Nether Lochaber district, there is an alleged "hollow

hill" which is also exceptionally famous. It is thus described by a

local gillie:--

"Coming up the Ulnach, sir, you saw a corrie away to the

left? Well, that's Corrie-Vinnean; and the round hillock in

the centre, which you must also have noticed, is a Shiän or

fairy-knowe; and in all the _garbh-chnochan_ (rough-bounds)

around us, from Kinloch Leven to Ardverikie, there is no

other shiän so famous as this shiän, and it is the chief

palace of the fairies of all these upland wilds, and it is

always occupied by a company of them. It is never

altogether deserted even for a day, though many other

shiäns are sometimes unoccupied for weeks together."[199]

FOOTNOTES:

[167] John Stuart, LL.D., "Proc. of the Soc. of Antiq. of Scot.,"

1st Series, viii. 23 _et seq._

[168] Examples of those "burrows," or underground galleries, in

Ulster are given by Mr. S. F. Milligan, M.R.I.A. (_Jour. of Roy.

Hist. and Arch. Assn. of Ireland_, No. 80, Vol. IX., Fourth Series,

pp. 245-246), who remarks:--"These souterraines are good examples of

the dwelling-places of a very early race of settlers in this

country."

[169] "Memoirs of Anthropological Society of London," vol. ii.

1865-6, p. 343.

[170] Knox's "Topography," etc., Edin., 1831, p. 211, _note_.

[171] Regarding the original home of the Picts, there is

considerable difference of opinion among ancient writers; but the

above traditional belief receives support from the statement that

"by Bede, by the 'Historia Britonum,' and by the Welsh traditions,

they appear as a people coming from Scythia, and acquiring first

Orkney, and afterwards Caithness, and then spreading over Scotland

from the north."--(Skene's _Chronicles of the Picts and Scots_, p.

xcvi.)

[172] Dwelt (cf. Dutch _wonen_, Germ. _wohnen_).

[173] This feature does not accord with the appearance of modern

Orkney or the Hebrides, but both groups were once thickly wooded.

Buchanan refers to various Hebridean islands as being "_darkened_

with wood" in the sixteenth century.

[174] Couples.

[175] Balks (cross-beams).

[176] From Jamieson's Scotch version, as given by Scott.

[177] Well-chosen.

[178] The dwarf is here addressing the settler by the name of his

new possession.

[179] Build.

[180] It ought to be added that he is only an "elf" by adoption; but

this does not affect the general situation. He bears all the outward

characteristics of the dwarfs.

[181] Mrs. Jessie E. Saxby, "Folklore from Unst, Shetland" (_Leisure

Hour_, 1880).

[182] Dr. Joseph Anderson, in his Introduction to the "Orkneyinga

Saga," p. ci.

[183] In an article ("From the Heart of the Wolds") contributed to

the _Cornhill Magazine_ of August 1882, the following is stated with

regard to the traditions of this part of Lincolnshire:--"Ghosts,

bogies, and the supernatural generally have utterly vanished from

this commonplace district before schools and newspapers. Even an old

lady more than ninety years old said to us, 'Fairies and shag-boys!

lasses are often skeart at them, but I never saw none, though I have

passed many a time after dark a most terrible spot for them on the

road at Thorpe.'" The identity of "shag-boy" with "hog-boy" (as used

in Orkney) is asserted by the writer of the _Cornhill_ article; who

also states:--"In an adjoining field [near Beelsby] lingers one of

the few legends of this prosaic district. A treasure is supposed to

be hidden in it, and at times two little men, wearing red caps,

something like the Irish _leprechauns_, may be seen intently digging

for it." These little "red-caps" are not identified with the

"shag-boys," but popular tradition generally would pronounce them to

be the same people.

[184] One is apt to talk of this introductory passage as though it

had actually _penetrated_ a previously existing mound. But the

construction of all those chambered mounds shows plainly that the

original stone structure, not only the central building but the long

passage of approach, was originally reared upon the surface of the

level ground, in the open air. And that the "fairy hillock" had no

existence at all until the builders of the stone structure had

heaped above it all--chamber and gallery--the mass of earth and

stones that afterwards transformed the whole exterior into a "green

hillock," and thus completely disguised its real nature from all but

the initiated.

[185] For these details see Colonel Forbes Leslie's "Early Races of

Scotland," vol. ii. pp. 338-40.

[186] Even with this roof-light the interior of the dwelling can

only have received a limited supply of daylight. And this explains

the statement made by a Scotch peasant who was taken by a "fairy"

woman into her abode. "Being asked by the judge [before whom he was

tried for 'witchcraft'] whether the place within the hill, which he

called a hall, were light or dark, he said '_Indifferent, as it is

with us in the twilight_.'"

At night, when the abode of the "hillmen" was lit up with the glow

of the fire, the cavity above the building, and the atmosphere

overhead, must have also received some share of the firelight. This

would account for the statement made by Wallace (who wrote at the

period when "Evil Spirits also called Fairies" were "frequently seen

in several of the [Orkney] Isles dancing and making merry,") to the

effect that, "in the Parish of Evie, near the Sea, are some small

_Hillocks_, which frequently, in the Night time, appear all in a

fire." And when Mrs. Ewing, in her "Old-Fashioned Fairy Tales," says

that _shian_ is "a Gaelic name for fairy towers, which _by day_ are

not to be told from mountain crags," she evidently alludes to the

same feature.

[187] See the description in an Appendix to Pennant's Tour, written

by the then minister of the parish of Reay, Sutherlandshire.

[188] "Popular Tales of the West Highlands," vol. ii. pp. 97-101. In

the _Book of Clanranald_, a portion of which is translated by Dr.

Skene, a certain "Huisdinn," whose paternal grandfather was Donald

of the Isles, is stated to have been also the grandson (through his

mother) of "Giolla Phadraig." This "Huisdinn" appears to have lived

in the fifteenth century. (See _Celtic Scotland_, III., 408-409.)

[189] "Heligoland," 1888, pp. 84-85.

[190] For fuller information as to Maes-how, and references to more

detailed accounts, see Dr. Anderson's "Orkneyinga Sage,"

Introduction, pp. ci-cviii.

It may be added that one feature in the first of the Maes-how

diagrams conveys a wrong impression of the probable appearance of

the mound, when inhabited; because the "well or pit" ("or crater")

is represented as being as solid as the rest of the outer covering.

That it gradually became filled up with drift and rubbish, after the

dwelling ceased to be occupied, is evident. But when the edifice was

newly reared, and as long as people continued to inhabit it, the

upper part of the mound was probably a hollow shaft; admitting light

and air into the dwelling below; "carrying off the smoke of their

fire;" and occasionally serving as a way of ingress and egress.

[191] "West Highland Tales," ii. 39.

[192] Which will be found at pp. 30-32 of "Legends of Scottish

Superstition," Edinburgh, 1848.

[193] The Wigtownshire tale perhaps relates rather to an example of

the rude underground Fairy Ha', or Pecht's house, described in the

beginning of this chapter. While the word "how" signifies in Orkney

a _haug_, or mound; the "howe" of other parts of Scotland means a

"hollow." In fact, the story says that the foul water ran _down_ to

the entrance of the dwarf's house, which was therefore either an

underground gallery of the kind referred to, or else a chambered

mound placed on a lower level than the shepherd's cottage.

[194] Cf. _tulman_ in the Barra anecdote quoted above. See also p.

82 _ante_, note 2.

[195] From "Grantown-on-Spey," by the Rev. A. Gordon (in a "Budget

of Holiday Letters," Edinburgh, 1889).

[196] "Lay of the Last Minstrel," Note M.

[197] Chambers, in his "Popular Rhymes" (241-2), has a story

corresponding in one feature to that of "Taptillery." This is of a

certain Laird of Craufurdland, who had dammed up a stream in order

to get at a treasure believed to be hidden in its bed, "when a

brownie called out of a bush:

"Pow, pow!

Craufurdland's tower's a' in a low!" [_i.e._, on fire]

which sent the laird home to save his tower; and when he returned

from his fool's errand the dam had been destroyed, and the stream

was flowing as before.

[198] Mr. J. H. Dixon, F.S.A.Scot. See "Gairloch," Edin.' 1886, pp.

159-61.

[199] See the modern _Scots Magazine_, Vol. I., No. 1, Dec., 1887

("Damh Blàr Bheinn Chrulaist," a sporting story).

CHAPTER XIV.

So numerous are the mounds that, owing to the traditions attaching

to them, invite their own destruction at the hands of the

archæologist, that only a limited number of them can be specified in

these pages. Among these were, until recent years, two "fairy

knowes," long known by that term in the adjoining countryside. They

lie between the rivers Forth and Teith, about four miles to the

south of Doune. One of them was broken into a good many years ago,

and it is now known to antiquaries as the "Broch of Coldoch" (from

the estate on which it is situated).[200] It appears to be one of

those structures which form a connecting link between the open-air

broch, such as that of Mousa, and the more visible "hill," such as

Maes-how. It is circular in form, has the central chamber and three

small chambers in the thickness of the wall; and the lower portion

of a winding-stair, also in the wall, which shows it to be the

remains of an inferior "Mousa." Its dimensions are like those of

other "brochs," and these are such that, in this case, they evoked

the remark from the writer's guide (a native of the district) that

"it had never been built for men like him." This, indeed, is the

remark that naturally falls from any visitor to such buildings; as

the writer has noticed on several such occasions (nor can he forget

that one, at any rate, of his companions, in a recent visit to "the

hidden places of the Fians and fairies" in the valley of the Boyne,

was debarred from inspecting these interesting works for the simple

reason that the underground passage of entrance was so strait, in

every way, that for him to worm himself along it, as all visitors

must do, was a physical impossibility). The popular belief that such

mounds were tenanted by dwarfs has no stronger testimony than the

obvious fact that none but dwarfs would have thought of raising such

structures; or could have properly utilized them when erected. And

although the most famous of the Boyne mounds just referred to has

been styled "the firm mansion of the 'Dagda'" in ancient records,

and, by a modern singer,

"The Royal Brugh,

By the dark-rolling waters of the Boyne,

Where Angus Og magnificently dwells,"

yet such a "mansion" would be a most impracticable kind of abode for

men of the ordinary height of modern Europeans, if any such felt

disposed to imitate the "magnificence" of Angus Og.

Of this "Royal Brugh" the outward appearance is well delineated in

the engraving which constitutes the _Frontispiece_. All that has

been said as to the adaptability of Maes-how to any of the

well-known fairy stories is equally applicable to this Irish "how."

The Boyne mound, however, as will be seen from its measurements, is

much larger than the Orkney one; though the stone structure in its

interior is of much the same dimensions as the other. The interior

of the "Broch of the Boyne," however, represents a much ruder and

more primitive stage in such architecture, and compared with it, the

Orkney "how" is a most finished and elaborate work.

This, then, is what a fairy hill, of the larger class, looks like to

the outsider. And it is clear that, when its entrance is concealed,

as it once was, no stranger, ignorant of such a thing as a

mound-dwelling, would ever think that this innocent-looking hill was

artificially made, and that the chambers within it were the

residence of a family or families. One might well begin to build,

and even to fell trees, upon the outer "walls" of such a "house,"

without knowing that such a proceeding might be resented by "the

moody elfin king that won'd within the hill."

The entrance to this underground hall, which has been rediscovered

for about two centuries, may be discerned almost at the base of the

hill, slightly to the left of the figures of the man and boy in the

foreground.

[Illustration: SECTIONAL VIEW OF THE BRUGH OF THE BOYNE.

(_From the West._)]

This entrance or doorway is represented below, and, like the

others of this series, it is the work of an artist who is also an

eminent Irish archæologist, than whom no one possesses a more

intimate acquaintance with the interior and exterior of the Boyne

mounds. This, then, is an Irish illustration of what the Shetland

boys used to call a "trow's door!"[201]

[Illustration: DOORWAY OF THE BRUGH.]

The (not too portly) explorer who enters this doorway and creeps,

sometimes laterally, along the passage, at one point very low and

narrow, works his way at length into the comparatively large chamber

that forms the main part of the structure. The relation which this

passage and chamber bear to the mound which was heaped over them

will be seen from the transverse sectional view of the "hill," which

is represented in the accompanying plate. The dimensions and general

appearance of this underground gallery and "hall" will also be fully

understood by an examination of this and the other designs. And one

point will be noticed, namely, that no access to the top of the

mound, as in such a case as Finn's dwelling in Sylt, or the Orkney

Maes-how, is here visible. But it must be borne in mind that, over

those portions of the mound which are represented as solid, the word

"Unexplored" might fitly be written. If this is like some of the

"fairy hills" of tradition, it ought to have a channel, or passage,

leading upward to the summit, and, indeed, the lower end of such a

passage, though at present choked up, is suggested at one side of

the inner chamber (on the right hand of the explorer), as may be

seen in the plan of the year 1889.

It is necessary, however, to discriminate between one kind of

"fairy hill" and another. Maeshow and the Sylt Denghoog appear to

closely resemble the modern Lapp _gamme_, as regards the upper

portion of the structure, for access to both of these may be gained

from the roof. The "trap-door" to which Mr. Black refers in the Sylt

instance appears to have always existed in one shape or another; and

its original use may be guessed from the following notice of the

same portion of a Lapp _gamme_. The gamme "is generally circular, or

oblong, having the appearance of a large, rounded hillock, which

indeed it may be termed," says a Lapland traveller of sixty years

ago.[202] And he further states that "an opening in the roof, nearly

over the fire-place, served to let out the smoke; and might be

covered at times with a kind of trap-door, to retain the internal

warmth, when the fire is burnt out. This is always let down at

night." That this was the usage in the dwelling of Finn, or whatever

may have been the name of the Sylt dwarf whose bones were found in

the Denghoog, seems very probable. But to such chambered mounds as

the Broch of the Boyne, another traditionary egress, whether for the

dwellers or for the smoke, seems more applicable. It has already

been noticed that "pits on the top of hills were supposed to lead to

the subterranean habitations of the Fairies."

[Illustration: ENLARGED SECTIONAL VIEW OF PASSAGE AND CHAMBER, BRUGH

OF THE BOYNE. (_From the West._)]

But another version says that "pits on the tops of mountains are

regarded in the border [_i.e._, the Anglo-Scottish Borders] with a

degree of superstitious horror, as the porches or entrances of the

subterraneous habitations of the fairies; from which confused

murmurs, the cries of children, moaning voices, the ringing of

bells, and the sounds of musical instruments are often supposed to

be heard. Round these hills the green fairy circles are believed to

wind in a spiral direction, till they reach the descent to the

central cavern."[203] Assuming that "mountains" ought to read

"hillocks," and that the spiral passages are akin to those which

wind down the interior of the walls of such a "broch" as that of

Mousa, this tradition would lead one to believe that the Broch of

the Boyne has a winding passage to the upper air. A recent visitor

has observed that "on the exterior top of the mound there appears to

be a small crater-like depression,"[204] which he attributes to a

subsidence of the structure, but which, on the other hand, may have

always been there. The suggestion of an upward passage in the

interior has just been referred to. This latter is not indicated at

all in the plan of the year 1724; but as a matter of fact, this

detail was not known until quite recently, when the displacement of

a slab revealed this cavity (as well as some additional spiral

incisions on the slab).

It will be observed that the plans of 1724 and 1889 differ

considerably as to the dimensions and outline of the central

chamber. Although the earlier one was "delineated with care and

accuracy, upon the place," by "Mr. Samuel Molyneux, a young

gentleman of the college of Dublin," one must rather accept the

testimony of so experienced and careful an archæologist as Mr.

Wakeman. But the plan of 1724 has this great merit, that it was

executed only twenty-nine years after the re-opening of the "brugh";

and, consequently, it shows (marked with the letter H) "a pyramid

stone now fallen, but formerly set up erect in the middle of the

cave." Moreover, Mr. Molyneux was able to give a sketch of the

carvings above the right hand, or eastern recess, when these were

much fresher than at any period during this century. A fac-simile of

this picture is here given; and if the artistic style of the

draughtsman is not very admirable it will at least be admitted that

his work possesses a high archæological value. But before quitting

the subject of the drawing of 1724, it must be pointed out that

although Mr. Molyneux shows, in the northern recess of his

ground-plan, a rude basin similar to those still occupying the

eastern and western recesses, yet the account of Mr. Edward Llhwyd,

stated to have been written in 1699,[205] distinctly says that that

recess was _then_ vacant. If Mr. Llhwyd's statement is correct the

plan of 1724 is obviously misleading in this respect.

The statements of those early writers are deserving of full

consideration, for they wrote before the effects of the outside air

and the unscientific tourist could have appreciably altered the

appearance of the chamber, since it was entered in 1695. Their

accounts, therefore, are quoted afterwards at greater length.[206]

But, from what has been said, and from an inspection of these

illustrations, a good idea may be gained of the exterior and

interior appearance of the habitation in which tradition states that

Angus Og "magnificently dwelt."

Something may here be said regarding this personage, and the race to

which he belonged. He is said to have been the King of the Tuatha De

Danann, a race traditionally believed to have been the immediate

precursors of the Gaels in Ireland. They are sometimes spoken of as

"the Dananns" or "Danaans"; sometimes also as "the Tuatha De, or

Dea." _Tuatha_ merely signifies "people"; but the two other names do

not seem to have received any definite interpretation. It is said

that they migrated from "Lochlin" (Scandinavia, or perhaps also

Northern Germany) to the north-eastern Lowlands of Scotland; and Dr.

Skene notes that the topography of that district supports the theory

in several details.[207]

[Illustration: GROUND PLAN OF PASSAGE AND CHAMBER, BRUGH OF THE

BOYNE. (_From a drawing by Mr. W. F. Wakeman_, 1889.)]

[Illustration: GROUND PLAN OF PASSAGE AND CHAMBER, BRUGH OF THE

BOYNE. (_From a drawing by Mr. Samuel Molyneux_, 1724.)]

After living there for several generations, they are understood to

have crossed to Ireland, then inhabited by the race of the

"Fir-Bolgs," whom they subdued.[208] Two centuries later the Gaels

(or Milesians) came to Ireland--from Spain, it is said. It was at

this period that "Aonghus Mac an Daogha," otherwise Angus, son of

"the Dagda," was king of the Tuatha De Danann. The story goes that

the Dananns, recognizing that the Gaels came as powerful and warlike

invaders, and as colonizers, told them on their first arrival that

if they could effect a landing in open day, and in spite of the

Dananns, then one-half of Ireland would be ceded to the new-comers.

The Gaels were successful; but the two parties could not agree as to

the division of Ireland,--apparently because the Tuatha De Danann,

while willing to surrender one-half of the island, wished to retain

the sovereignty of the whole. Then, after the simple fashion of the

heroes of ancient chronicles, the rival forces came to the agreement

that the matter should be laid before the first person whom a party

of deputies from either side should happen to encounter at the

outskirts of a certain town, on an appointed day, and this man's

decision should be held as final. Now, although the Dananns are

remembered as "adepts in all Druidical and magical arts," the Gaels

also had a _druidh_ (_i.e._, wizard or _magus_) among their number;

who proved more than a match for the Dananns. For, between him and

the leaders of his party it was arranged that the man whom the

deputies should accidentally meet at the appointed place should be

no other than this _druidh_ of the Gaels, whose person was unknown

to their opponents. The unsuspecting Dananns walked into the trap.

The first man that the delegates met was a strolling harper. "It is

a great thing thou hast to do to-day, good master of the sciences!"

was the greeting of Angus Mac Dagda, who was one of the company.

"What have I to be doing to-day?" quoth the wise man, "except to go

about with my harp, and learn who shall best reward me for my

music."[209] "Thy task is far greater than that," answered Angus,

"thou hast to divide Ireland into two equal portions." Thereupon the

_druidh_, having obtained the promise of either side that they would

abide by his decision, pronounced as follows:--"This, then, is my

decision. As ye, O magical Dananns, have for a long period possessed

that half of Ireland which is above ground, henceforth the half

which is underneath the surface shall be yours, and the half above

ground shall belong to the Sons of Miledh (the Milesians, or Gaels).

To thee, O Angus, son of the Dagda, as thou art the king of the

Tuatha De Danann, I assign the best earth-house in Ireland, the

white-topped _brugh_ of the Boyne.[210] As for the rest, each one

can select an earth-house for himself." Against this grotesque

decision there was, obviously, no appeal, and the Dananns

surrendered the surface of Ireland to the Gaels; "and retaining only

the green mounds, known by the name of Sidh, and then being made

invisible by their enchantments, became the Fir Sidhe, or Fairies,

of Ireland."[211]

In this legend of the "halving" of Ireland, Dr. Skene recognizes the

memory of a historical fact,--the conquest of Ireland by the Gaels,

and the terms meted out by them to the natives. The tradition has of

course its defects, like most traditions. The "earth-houses"

referred to[212] must have already been in existence before they

could be spoken of, and particularized, by the magician of the

Gaels.

[Illustration: EASTERN RECESS OF CENTRAL CHAMBER, AS DRAWN BY MR.

MOLYNEUX IN 1724. (_Fac-simile._)]

The inference to be drawn from the story is that the Tuatha De

Danann were themselves mound-dwellers, and that the terms imposed

upon them by the Gaels restricted the conquered people to their own

habitations, presumably with the reservation of a small portion of

the adjoining territory. That, in short, the Gaelic conquest denoted

a state of things analogous to the European conquest and settlement

of North America, where the native races, having once submitted,

were allowed to live on "reservations," scattered here and there

throughout the country. Thus, as in America, the two races would

live side by side, though perhaps, as in America, presenting the

most opposite characteristics.

The above story states that the Fir Sidhe, or Dananns, were confined

to those "hollow hills" by the Gaels, through the instrumentality of

their _druidh_. The version which Mr. William Black indicates as

current in Southern Ireland, ascribes this act to _the saints_. In

his novel of _Shandon Bells_, he introduces the hero and heroine as

standing in "the very headquarters of the elves and the pixies"; and

the girl asks "'Is this where you said the saints shut up Don Fierna

and the pixies?' 'No,' he said, 'that was away over there in the

mountains. But they say the little people can get out into this

valley; and you won't catch many of the Inisheen natives about here

after dark!'" Here, then, it is a Gaelic _saint_ and not a Gaelic

_druidh_ who was instrumental in confining "the little people" to

their homes; but, after all, there is perhaps not much difference

between _saint_ and _druidh_. The Fierna here referred to, it may be

remarked, is that King of the Sidhfir of Munster, who has been

spoken of on a previous page,[213] and whose dwelling, according to

tradition, was the hill of _Knockfierin_, in the neighbourhood of

Limerick.

The Tuatha De Danann, therefore, are the Sidhfir, or Fairies, of

Irish tradition. But the Tuatha De Danann have been already referred

to in these pages.[214] "Who were the Feinne of tradition, and to

what country and period are they to be assigned?" This is the

question put by Dr. Skene. And after considering the various Irish

traditions relating to "the Feinne," his conclusion is this: "The

Feinne, then, belonged to the pre-Milesian races, and were

connected, not only with Ireland, but likewise with Northern and

Central Scotland, England and Wales, and the territory lying between

the Rhine and the Elbe. [This last-named territory, being "Lochlin,"

ought perhaps to be held as including the whole of Scandinavia.]

Now, there are just two people mentioned in the Irish records

who had settlements in Ireland, and who yet were connected with

Great Britain and 'Lochlin.' These were the people termed the

Tuatha De Danann, and the Cruithne.... These two tribes were thus

the prior race in each country [Ireland and North and Central

Scotland]. Both must have been prior to the Low German population

of Lochlan. The Cruithne were the race prior to the Scots [Gaels]

in North and Central Scotland, and the Tuatha De Danann the prior

colony to the Milesian Scots in Ireland. The Feinne are brought

by all the old historic tales into close contact with the Tuatha

De Danann; a portion of them were avowedly Cruithne; and if they

were, as we have seen, in Ireland, not of the Milesian race, but

of the prior population, and likewise connected with Great Britain

and the region lying between the Rhine and the Elbe, the inference

is obvious, that, whether a denomination for an entire people

or for a body of warriors, they belonged to the previous population

which preceded the Germans in Lochlan and the Gaels in Ireland and

North and Central Scotland. This view is corroborated by the fact,

that in the old poems and tales the Feinne appear, as we have

said, in close connection with the Tuatha De Danann. They are

likewise connected with the Cruithne.... In answering, then, the

preliminary questions of who were the Feinne? and to what period do

they belong? we may fairly infer that they were of the population

who immediately preceded the Gaels in Ireland and in North and

Central Scotland."[215]

The Feinne, then, belonged to the population which comprised the

Cruithne and the Tuatha De Danann, or Sidhfir, or Fairies. But the

Cruithne, as we have seen,[216] were the Picts of history, and the

"Pechts" of Scottish folk-lore. Thus, the Feinne were of the

population of "Pechts and Fairies." It has already been shown that

to draw a hard and fast line between these two divisions is

impossible. Nevertheless, there seems to have been once some kind of

distinction between the two. And if the Feinne must necessarily have

been "Pechts _or_ Fairies" (as the above conclusions of Dr. Skene's

seem to warrant), then they appear to have belonged to the former

division. Or, in other words, they were _Cruithne_ rather than

_Tuatha De Danann_. It may be remembered that in such a Fenian

ballad as the _Dan an Fhir Shicair_, or Song of the Fairy Man,[217]

the Feinne are represented as associating with the Sidhfir (say

Tuatha De Danann), but yet not as _identical_ with them. Again, the

same dubiety was seen in the references to the hoards of treasure

obtained by the ninth-century Danes from "the hidden places

belonging to Fians _or_ to Fairies,"[218] in the valley of the

Boyne.

The Brugh of the Boyne is several times spoken of by Professor

Eugene O'Curry in his "Lectures on the Manuscript Materials of

Ancient Irish History."[219] For example, as an illustration of the

use of the word _sidh_ to denote "a hall or residence" of the

_sidh_-folk Mr. O'Curry cites a stanza "taken from an ancient poem

by Mac Nia, son of Oenna (in the Book of Ballymote, fol. 190, b.) on

the wonders of _Brugh_ (or _Brog_) _na Boinne_ (the Palace of the

Boyne), the celebrated Hall of the Daghda Mór, who was the great

king and oracle of the _Tuata Dé Danann_. This poem," continues Mr.

O'Curry, "begins: '_A Chaemu Bregh Brig nad Breg_' ('Ye Poets of

Bregia, of truth, not false,') and this is the second stanza of that

poem:

'_Fegaid in sid ar for súil

Is foderc dib is treb rig,

Ro guíd laisin Dagda ndúir,

Ba dinn, ba dun, amra bríg._'

'Behold the _Sidh_ before your eyes,

It is manifest to you that it is a king's mansion,

Which was built by the firm _Daghda_;

It was a wonder, a court, an admirable hill.'"[220]

In the same work we read of an incident, placed in the time of St.

Patrick and subsequent to the Battle of Gawra, when the conquered

"Fianns" were only represented by a few straggling survivors, one of

whom was the well-known _Caeilté_ (as the name is here spelt).

"Saint Patrick, with his travelling missionary retinue, including

Caeilté we are told, was one day sitting on the hill which is now

well known as Ard-Patrick, in the county of Limerick." Questioning

Caeilté as to the former name of this hill, St. Patrick learned that

it had been called _Tulach-na-Feiné_, and obtained also an anecdote

suggested by it. "One day that we were on this hill," says Caeilté,

speaking of himself and his brother "Fianns," "Finn observed a

favourite warrior of his company, named Cael O'Neamhain, coming

towards him, and when he had come to Finn's presence, he asked him

where he had come from. Cael answered that he had come from _Brugh_

in the north (that is the fairy mansion of _Brugh_, on the

Boyne).[221] 'What was your business there?' said Finn. 'To speak to

my nurse, Muirn, the daughter of Derg,' said Cael. 'About what?'

said Finn. 'Concerning Credé, the daughter of Cairbré, King of Kerry

(_Ciarraighe Luachra_),' said Cael?" And so on. At another

place[222] the dialogue goes thus:--"'Where hast thou come from,

Cael?' said Finn. 'From the teeming _Brugh_, from the North,' said

Cael. ('_As in Brug Braenach atuaid,' ar Cael_)." And so on, to the

same purpose as in the other version. In this story, then, we see

the "Fians and Fairies" associated with each other, as in _The

Ballad of the Fairy Man_; and the nurse of one of the Fians is

described as living in the "brugh" which was built by the celebrated

chief of the Tuatha De Danann, and was afterwards tenanted by his

son, Angus Og.

Among Mr. O'Curry's notes there is this reference to Angus Og:[223]

"In the _Dinnsenchus_ it is stated that '_Eóin Bailé_' were Four

Kisses of Aengus of _Brugh na Boinné_ (son of the _Daghda Mor_, the

great necromancer and king of the _Tuatha Dé Danann_), which were

converted by him into 'birds which haunted the youths of Erinn.'

This allusion," remarks Mr. O'Curry, "requires more investigation

than I have yet been able to bestow on the passage." Whatever the

"_Eóin Bailé_" may have been, or have been assumed to be, this

passage brings into prominence the fact that the people known as

Tuatha De Danann, or Fir-Sidhe, were regarded by other races as

possessed of supernatural power, and were indeed actually revered as

gods at one era. As the biographer of St. Patrick says of him:--

"He preached threescore years

The Cross of Christ to the _Tuatha_ [people] of Feni.

On the _Tuatha_ of Erin there was darkness.

The _Tuatha_ adored the _Side_."[224]

(Here, of course, the _Fir_ Sidhe, or people of the "sidhs" are

denoted; the word being sometimes used to indicate the dwellers,

sometimes the dwellings.) And the exalted character of the inmates

of the Brugh of the Boyne is indicated also in a verse of a Gaelic

poem entitled _Baile Suthain Sith Eamhna_, which dates back to the

year 1457 at least. The subject of the verse referred to is thus

apostrophized:--

"Thou, the son of noble Sabia,

Thou the most beauteous apple rod;

_What god from Bru of the Boyne_

Created thee with her in secret?"[225]

This exalted position "the little people" seem to have retained in

some measure long after their subjugation, and even the household

drudge or "brownie" was feared for his alleged "supernatural" power.

The fact that the common people of Ireland at the present day speak

of the inhabitants of the "brughs" or "sheeans" as "the gentry," may

also be regarded as a witness to the superior rank once held by that

caste whose mound-dwellings are exemplified by this "Brugh of the

Boyne" and others in its neighbourhood.

Of the undoubtedly historic spoliation of those Boyne "hillocks" in

the ninth century, something more may be said here. "We have on

record," says Lady Ferguson,[226] "both in the Irish chronicles and

the Norse _Sagas_, that in the year 861 the three earls, Olaf,

Sitric, and Ivar, opened, for purposes of plunder, the sepulchral

mounds of New Grange, Dowth, and Knowth on the Boyne, and the mound

of the wife of the Gobaun Saer,[227] the mythic builder, or Wayland

Smith of the Irish Celts, still a conspicuous object at Drogheda."

One of the Irish chronicles referred to by Lady Ferguson is that

known as the "Annals of Ulster" ("compiled in the year 1498," says

Dr. Skene), and the passage is as follows: "Aois Cr. ocht cced

seascca a haon, ... Amlaoibh, Iomhair, 7[228] h Uailsi, tri toisigh

Gall. 7 Lorcain me Cathail tigerna Midhe, do ionnradh ferainn Floinn

me Conaing. Uaimh Ach Alda hi Mugdhornaibh Maighen, Uaimh Cnoghbhai,

Uaimh Feirt Bodan os Dubath, 7 Uaimh mna an Gobhand ag Drochat atha

do croth 7 d orggain las na Gall cedna."[229]

This is rendered into Latin by Dr. O'Conor thus: "Ætas Christi

DCCCLXI..... Amlafus, Imarus et Magnates trium Ducum Alienigenarum,

et Lorcanus filius Cathaldi Princeps Midiæ, vastant terras Flanni

filii Conangi. Crypta subterranea campi Alda in regione Mugdornorum

planitiei, Crypta Cnovæ, Cryptæ miraculorum Bodani supra Dubath, et

Crypta foeminæ fabri apud Droghedam, vastatæ et destructæ ab

Alienigenis iisdem."

Neither Dr. Todd nor Dr. Skene, however, have a high opinion of

O'Conor's translation.[230] And his rendering of "Uailsi" by

"Magnates" is palpably a blunder based upon the acceptance of that

word as _uaillse_ or _uaisle_, a nobleman; whereas, Uailsi, Oisli,

Oisill, &c., was the name of a comrade (some accounts say a brother)

of the Olaf and Ivor referred to.[231] Thus, the Annals state that

in 861, Olaf (or Anlaf, or Aulay), Ivor and Uailsi (or Oisli), three

chiefs of the Foreigners, and Lorcan, son of Cathal, lord of

Meath,[232] devastated the lands of Flann, son of Conang; in other

words, the territory of "Bregia,--a district including the counties

of Meath, Westmeath, Dublin (north of the Liffey), and part of

Louth."[233] And these same "foreigners" pillaged and destroyed

certain underground chambers, which O'Conor refers to as "crypts."

The term is correct enough, signifying, as it does, an underground

place of concealment. But the Gaelic term is more suitable, if the

quickened pronunciation which in many parts of Scotland has

occasioned the spelling "weem" (_i.e._, _uaim_) be adopted. For by

"weem" is understood the subterranean gallery previously described,

if it is not at any time applied to the actual "hollow hill."[234]

Of the "weems" in the territory of Flann, which the _Annals_ state

were plundered, three are easily recognized;--viz., that of

"Cnoghbha," the modern "Knowth" (which is portrayed in the

accompanying plate), the still more celebrated "Uaimh Feirt Bodan,"

described as "above Dubath,"[235] now known as Dowth, which is also

here represented, and thirdly, the "weem" of the wife of the _Gobban

Saor_, or "noble smith," at Drogheda. The first-named of all is said

to be that of the "Brugh of the Boyne," at New Grange; and no doubt

there is evidence for this identification, although the term

"Mugdhornaibh Maighen" would otherwise lead one to place this "weem"

at "Mugornn or Mugdhorn, now Cremorne,"[236] in the county of

Monaghan.

Two of these "weems" are mentioned in the Gaelic poem of _Sith

Eamhna_, wherein, as has been seen, "the son of noble Sabia" was

assumed to be equally the son of some god "from Bru of the Boyne."

In this poem, whose meaning is somewhat obscure, there are several

references to the Boyne and to various "broghs," of which one is

"the cave of Ferna, the fair cave of Knowth (_uaim fhearna_, _uaim

chaomh cnodhbha_, or _chnoghdha_)." This _Sith Eamhna_ itself

appears to have been of the same order, and not improbably was that

Eamhain which was "the ancient palace of the kings of Ulster." "The

ruins of Eamhain, or, as it is now corruptly called, the Navan Fort,

are to be seen about two miles to the west of Armagh," says Mr.

O'Donovan, in a note to his "Book of Rights."[237] This is certainly

farther north than the territory of Flann Mc Conang, ravaged by the

"foreigners" in 861, as defined on a previous page; but one writer

states that that territory of "Bregia" (or _Breagh_) extended into

Ulster, in the eighth century;[238] and if the plundered "weem"

first-named in the _Annals_ was really in county Monaghan, that

would show that a portion of "Breagh" was situated in Ulster in 861.

Eamhain, or Emania (in the Latinized form), appears to have given

its name to all Ulster, but in its proper application the term

refers to the stronghold itself. Dr. Skene speaks of "the fall of

the great seat of the Cruithnian kingdom called Emania, before an

expedition, led by a scion of the Scottish (_i.e._, Gaelic) royal

race, who established the kingdom of Orgialla on its ruins."[239] It

is this place that is associated with Oscar, the hero of the

"Fians," at the time of the Battle of Gawra; and it may be

remembered that, in a poem describing that battle, a chief of one

section of the "Fian" confederacy is made to exclaim:--

"I and the Fians of Breatan

Will be with Oscar of _Eamhain_."

And as Oscar is stated to have been slain at the Battle of Gawra,

and the power of the "Fians" destroyed, one is tempted to believe

that the legendary battle of Gawra coincides with the historical

capture of Oscar's stronghold of Emhain, and the downfall of the

historical Cruithné of Ulster. However, _Sith Eamhna_ has been

mentioned here not for its own sake, but for the casual references

in that poem to the "Brugh of the Boyne" and "the cave of Ferna, the

fair cave of Knowth."

The Gaelic records as well as the Scandinavian have many tales of

"how-breaking" exploits. For, although the accounts of the Feenic

"heroes" have been preserved to us in the Gaelic language, as those

of the Longobards have been preserved in Latin, it does not follow

in the one case more than in the other, that the language of the

chronicle was the language of the chronicled. Whatever may have been

wrought eventually, by time and intercourse, the Gaelic-speaking

people appear originally as the plunderers of "the hidden places of

the Fians and Fairies." Professor O'Curry states that among the

Historic Tales in the _Book of Leinster_, there are many which deal

specially with adventures in "caves" or, otherwise, "weems." Tales

of this class are called _Uatha_.[240] "These are tales respecting

various occurrences in caves; sometimes the taking of a cave, when

the place has been used as a place of refuge or habitation,--and

such a taking would be, in fact, a sort of _Toghail_ [the _Toghail_

having been previously defined as a history 'which details the

taking of a fort or fortified palace or habitation by force ... the

term always implies the destruction of the buildings taken.'];

sometimes the narrative of some adventure in a cave; sometimes of a

plunder of a cave." Mr. O'Curry gives a list of the _uatha_ in the

"Book of Leinster"; and of these the most noteworthy is the _Uath

Uama Cruachan_, or the Plundering of the Weem of Cruachan. This is

referred to as "a very curious story," and the ravagers are said to

have been "the men of Connacht, in the time of Ailill and Meadhbh,

as told in the old tale of _Táin Bo Aingen_." This Meadhbh, or Maev,

of Cruachan, "the Semiramis of Irish history," as Lady Ferguson

calls her, has herself been identified with the "Queen Mab" of fairy

tradition. She appears to have occupied this "Uama Cruachan" after

it had been plundered; for it is stated that her husband "re-edified

the Rath of Cruachan, employing for the purpose a fierce tribe of

Firbolgic origin, the _Gowanree_, who were compelled to labour

unremittingly at the earthworks, and are said to have completed the

dyke in one day."[241] Mr. O'Curry has another reference to this

place. "I have in my possession," he says, "a poem in the Ossianic

style, which gives an account of a foot race between Cailté, the

celebrated champion of Finn Mac Cumhaill, and an unknown knight who

had challenged him. The race terminated by the stranger running into

the Cave of Cruachain, followed by Cailté, where he found a party of

smiths at work, etc. No copy of the full Tale has come down to us."

This incident is remarkable for its association of one of the

"Fians" with the underground smiths of tradition. Another _uath_

mentioned by Mr. O'Curry is the _Uath Dercce Ferna_, regarding which

he says:--"There is an allusion to the trampling to death of some

sort of monster, in the mouth of this cave, by a Leinsterwoman, in a

poem on the Graves of Heroes who were killed by Leinstermen,

preserved in the Book of Leinster (H. 2. 18, fol. 27, Trin. Coll.

Dubl.)."

[Illustration: DOWTH (_Uaimh Feirt Bodan os Dubath_), COUNTY MEATH.

(_From the West._)]

The same place is the scene of the tale _Echtra Find an

Deircfearna_, "The Adventures of Finn in Derc Fearna"; but

unfortunately Mr. O'Curry has to add "This tale is now lost." It is

not clear why he should identify "Derc Fearna" with the "Cave of

Dunmore in the county Kilkenny." One would naturally, considering

its association with Finn and "Heroes who were killed by

Leinstermen," assume that this was the same as "the cave of Ferna,

the fair cave of Knowth."[242]

[Illustration: PLAN OF DOWTH.]

Of the plans and sectional views of these chambered mounds of the

Boyne valley which are here given, it is not necessary to say much

in these pages. "Dowth" has been explored and described by others,

although the accompanying pictures, being new, and the work of the

experienced archæologist referred to, add very considerably to the

knowledge of the subject. The main gallery and chamber of Dowth

resembles generally that of the "Brugh of the Boyne" at New Grange;

but the central chamber is not nearly so spacious.

[Illustration: PLAN OF PASSAGE AND CHAMBER AT DOWTH, AND TRANSVERSE

SECTION OF CHAMBER (SAME SCALE).]

The "bee-hive" chamber which the Dowth mound also contains has no

duplicate at New Grange, but it is quite possible that each of these

mounds has yet something to disclose. Dowth also reminds the

explorer and excavator, by the deep hollow made in the upper

portion, in the course of a fruitless and abandoned search, some

years ago, that to attack these mounds at random is to run the risk

of much useless and disappointing labour. It moreover shows that any

upward exit from the central chamber did not in this instance ascend

perpendicularly as in the Denghoog at Sylt, or the Orcadian

Maes-how. In trying to find the entrances to such "hollow hills," we

moderns have no light to guide us as the Danes had in the ninth

century. It will be remembered that there never was, "in concealment

under ground in Erinn, nor in the various secret places belonging to

Fians or to fairies, anything that was not discovered by these

foreign, wonderful Denmarkians, through paganism and idol worship."

[Illustration: BEE-HIVE CHAMBER, DOWTH.]

This is otherwise explained by Dr. Todd, "that, notwithstanding

the potent spells employed by the Fians and fairies for the

concealment of their hidden treasures, the Danes, by their pagan

magic and the diabolical power of their idols, were enabled to find

them out." What was the "magic" of those ninth-century Danes, or of

the order generally known as _Magi_, we only imperfectly know. But

what is tolerably evident is that if those ninth-century Danes did

not themselves rear similar structures (and Irish and Hebridean

tradition says they did), they had among them those to whom such

mound-dwellings were not "hidden" places; whether the entrances were

uniformly made at one side of the mound, or were otherwise indicated

to the initiated. In the case of "Knowth" there is less dubiety; as

what appears to be the entrance to its interior is known to Irish

archæologists. But local difficulties have hitherto stood in the

way, and the mound is said never to have been entered since the

ninth century; which, however, may be doubted. Dr. Molyneux, at any

rate, in the tract quoted in Appendix A, states that he had then in

his possession a stone urn which "was twelve years since [_i.e._ in

1713] discovered in a mount at _Knowth_, a place in the county of

_Meath_, within four miles of _Drogheda_." He does not actually say

that this urn, and the "square stone box, about five foot long and

four foot broad" which contained it, were situated in an interior

chamber of the mound. But very probably this is what he meant.[243]

[Illustration: KNOWTH (_Uaimh Cnoghbhai_), COUNTY MEATH.

(_From the South._)]

FOOTNOTES:

[200] This "fairy knowe" is described in the "Archæologia Scotica,"

vol. v. and the "Proc. of the Soc. of Antiq. of Scot.," 1st Series,

ix. 37-38.

[201] Judging from memory, and also from the repellent smallness of

the hole into which one was expected to plunge, it seems to the

present writer that the human figure seated at the doorway has been

drawn too small. If one compares him with the standing figures in

the general view, and with the aperture there seen, this criticism

will be borne out.

[202] A. de Capell Brooke; _A Winter in Lapland_, London, 1827, p.

320.

[203] Jeffrey's "Roxburghshire"; 1859, I., 54-5. (Quoted from

Leyden.)

[204] "Journal of Roy. Hist. and Archl. Assocn. of Ireland," No. 81,

Vol. IX., Fourth Series, p. 327.

[205] See the "Jour, of Roy. Hist. and Archl. Assocn. of Ireland,"

No. 81, Vol. IX., Fourth Series, p. 266.

[206] See Appendix A.

[207] _Celtic Scotland_, I., 220.

[208] The Fir-Bolgs themselves, well known to all readers of Irish

tradition, have many points in common with the people under

discussion. Compare, for example, Lady Ferguson's reference to "a

fierce tribe of Firbolgic origin, the _Gowanree_, who were compelled

to labour unremittingly at the earthworks [the Rath of Cruachan],

and are said to have completed the dyke _in one day_." "The Story of

the Irish before the Conquest," London, 1868, p. 32.

[209] The Dananns themselves were notably "professors of musical and

entertaining performances"; and indeed the term _druidh_, applied to

them also, seems to have indicated the possessor of many

accomplishments, in art and in a pseudo-science.

[210] _Brugh barragheal na Boinne_ is the phrase given in "The

Glenbard Collection of Gaelic Poetry" (Haszard, Charlottetown,

Prince Edward Island, 1888, p. 78) where the above story is told.

The term "white-topped" is somewhat vague. Had the word been

_barrachaol_, "pyramidal," the meaning would have been quite clear.

[211] 'Skene's _Celt. Scot._, III., 106-107. See also p. 93 of the

same volume, and pp. 178 and 220 of Vol. I.

[212] The words translated "earth-house," as used by the _druidh_,

are "brugh" and "bruighin." These, as already mentioned, signify

"fairy hill" or "underground dwelling of the fairies." But the

alternative rendering of "earth-house" has been preferred, as being

rather less of an anachronism than the assumption that such

dwellings were styled _fairy_ hills before ever they had been

assigned to the "fairies."

[213] Page 93, _ante_.

[214] Page 51, _ante_.

[215] _Dean of Lismore's Book_: Introduction, pp. lxiv,

lxxvi-lxxviii. (As in former quotations, I have slightly modernized

such terms as "Erin," according to Dr. Skene's own rendering of

these terms.)

[216] Page 51, _ante_.

[217] Page 82, _ante_.

[218] The custom of the "earth-man" to bury his treasures is known

all over Europe. A special instance has been cited in these pages

(p. 107, _ante_, note^2), when "two little men, wearing red caps"

are remembered as "intently digging" for their lost treasure, in a

certain field in Lincolnshire. Mr. J. F. Campbell, in drawing his

Fairy-Lapp parallel, says (_Tales_, Introd. cviii.): "Fairies had

hoards of treasure--so have Lapps. A man died shortly before one of

my Tana trips, and the whole country side had been out searching for

his buried wealth in vain. Some years ago the old silver shops of

Bergen and Trondhjem overflowed with queer cups and spoons, and

rings, silver plates for waist belts, old plate that had been hidden

amongst the mountains, black old silver coins that had not seen the

light for years. I saw the plate and bought some, and was told that,

in consequence of a religious movement, the Lapps had dug up and

sold their hoards." Another writer (A. de C. Brooke: _A Winter in

Lapland_, London, 1827, pp. 109-111), in referring to this practice,

says that sometimes the Lapp "forgets himself where he has hidden

it, and his hoard of silver remains so effectually concealed, after

he has been absent some time, that he is unable to discover the

place, and it is consequently lost to him for ever." And this writer

refers to a Lapp of his acquaintance who had concealed his treasure

"so securely that, notwithstanding the regular searches he had made

for it," he could not recover it. This feature offers an explanation

of the traditions of dwarfs _seeking_ for treasures which they

themselves had hidden. It may be added that the custom of burying

money was still so prevalent in Shetland, in the beginning of last

century, that it was held to be illegal, and the offenders were duly

fined.

[219] Dublin, 1861.

[220] _Op. cit._, p. 505.

[221] This parenthesis appears to be Mr. O'Curry's.

[222] Pp. 596-7; the first version being at pp. 308-9.

[223] _Op. cit._, p. 478.

[224] _Celt. Scot._, II., 108.

[225] _Celt. Scot._, III., 413. The above translation is by Mr. W.

M. Hennessy, from the following:--

Tusa (tussa) mac Sadhbha saoire,

As (is) tu an slat (intshlat) abhla as (ar) aille,

Ca dia do bhru na boinne

Do roine ria thu a taidhe.

[226] "The Irish before the Conquest," p. 237.

[227] More correctly, _Gobban Saor_ ("Free or Noble Smith"). From

the description given by Mr. Elton (_Origins_, p. 131) of "Wayland's

Smithy" at Ashbury, Berkshire, it is evident that it also belongs to

the same class as the Boyne mounds.

[228] The symbol for the Gaelic _agus_--"and."

[229] Dr. O'Conor's _Rerum Hibernicarum Scriptores veteres_, 1824,

III., 363-364.

[230] "Bad translation and wretchedly erroneous topography," says

the former; "by no means accurate," says the latter.

[231] _Wars of the Gaedhill with the Gaill_, lxxii, 23.

[232] Properly, of one-half only of Meath. (_Wars of the Gaedhill_,

lxx, n^3.)

[233] _Op. cit._, lxxxviii, xci, _notes_.

[234] For references to Scotch "weems" (specially so called), see

Col. Forbes Leslie's "Early Races of Scotland," 1866, Vol. II., pp.

351-354. Also _ante_, p. 101.

[235] ? The "black ford."

[236] _Wars of the Gaedhill_, xci, n^2.

[237] Dublin, 1847, p. 22.

[238] "Book of Rights," pp. 11-12, note.

[239] _Dean of Lismore's Book_, Introd., p. xxiii.

[240] "_Uatha_, plural of _Uath_, a word not easily translated.

_Uath_ is evidently "These are tales formed from _Uaimh_, a cave, or

cellar; and signifies some deed connected with, as the attack or

plunder of, a cave." (O'Curry, _op. cit._, p. 586, note.)

[241] "The Irish before the Conquest," p. 32.

[242] For Mr. O'Curry's various statements, see his _Lectures_, pp.

257-8, 283, 586-7 and 589.

[243] A more particular description of the Brugh of the Boyne will

be found in Appendix A. The three mounds are also described in "A

Hand Book of Irish Antiquities," by William F. Wakeman, Dublin,

1848; in Wilde's "Beauties of the Boyne," Dublin, 1849, and two of

them (Knowth and Dowth) by T. N. Deane, in the "Proceedings of the

Royal Irish Academy," December, 1888.

CHAPTER XV.

Such barrows as these of the Boyne district belong to the largest

class of these structures at present revealed to us. What may be

taken as the average "fairy knowe" is very much smaller; therefore,

when it is said that houses have, in all likelihood, been frequently

built upon such artificial eminences, without the more modern

builders being aware of their real nature, it is to be understood

that the tumuli of the larger class are indicated. But, while it is

probable that newer races very often built thus unconsciously upon

the outer crust of the habitations of the mound-dwellers, it is

still more likely that, in course of time, the central chamber of

the mound became by slow degrees the dungeon of a fort or castle

that had evolved itself from it. When a "how" of the larger class

had been "broken" by invaders, and its inmates despoiled and killed

or enslaved, their conquerors would quickly realize that this

artificial mound, rising out of a level plain, formed an admirable

site for a stronghold; and, indeed, that the only thing immediately

necessary was to throw up a rampart round the top of the hill. To

races who had no fancy for the subterranean manner of living, the

strongholds of their predecessors would not suffice, although they

would still prove very serviceable as cellars, or dungeons, or as

forming a secret way of access to the castle which would eventually

tower above them. Where the subject race was not exterminated, the

former lord of the "broch" would still live on as the serf of his

conqueror, and, on account of his physical peculiarities, he would

be remembered as his master's "dwarf," or "brownie," while the women

of his race, still claiming their inherited "supernatural" power,

would be represented by the prophetic half-dreaded "banshee"

(_ban-sithe_, or fairy-woman) that foretold the destinies of the

house of her over-lord. It is a significant fact that the possession

of a family "banshee" in Ireland is restricted to these families who

trace their descent from the Milesians (Scots), the conquerers of

the Cruithné or Pechts. And we are told that, at one time, in

Shetland, where the Pechts became the subject race, "almost every

family had a _brownie_ ... which served them."[244] Innumerable

references of this kind might be given. There is, for instance, the

case of the "brownie" who was the attendant of Maclachlan of

Stralachlan, in Argyllshire, and who is said to have "inhabited a

vault in the dungeons of the castle" (Castle Lachlan), but who, like

other "brownies," was accredited with prophetic powers![245] Then

there is the "little chap with a red cap on his head," referred to

in a story told to the late J. F. Campbell;[246] and this "little

chap" is understood to occupy the cellar of a "haunted house";

which, as it was inhabited by "ladies and gentlemen," and must be

assigned to the period when such "red caps" existed, was not

unlikely a "house" of the same order as the castles just spoken of.

Such an example of a mediæval castle, the flower of a plant rooted

in the interior of such a mound, may be recognized in Kenilworth.

According to local tradition, the hill upon which Kenilworth Castle

is built was once inhabited by fairies, who are remembered by the

same characteristics as their kindred elsewhere. But the

consideration of a Warwickshire mound might lead us too far away

from the dwarfs more specially known as Picts or Pechts, and

therefore it is better to continue as much as possible within the

area already examined. It is enough to note that the Kenilworth

dwarfs, in the days when their mound was merely a subterranean vault

of the great castle overhead, and themselves nothing more than the

"Redcaps" of the cellar, formed a marked contrast to the once

dreaded "shag-boys" or mound-dwellers, as these are remembered in

Lincolnshire tradition.[247]

However, if Kenilworth is too far south to be recognized as a home

of the historical Pechts, Ancient Northumbria has not the same

objection against it. And in East Lothian, which is a portion of

that province, a certain Castle of Yester was once famous for its

"Goblin Hall," which is thus described in the Appendix to "Marmion"

(note 2 P):--

"_The Goblin Hall._--A vaulted hall under the ancient

castle of Gifford or Yester (for it bears either name

indifferently), the construction of which has from a very

remote period been ascribed to magic.... 'Upon a peninsula,

formed by the water of Hopes on the east, and a large

rivulet on the west, stands the ancient castle of Yester.

Sir David Dalrymple, in his annals, relates that "Hugh

Gifford de Yester died in 1267; that in his castle there

was a capacious cavern, formed by magical art, and called

in the country Bo-Hall, _i.e._, Hobgoblin Hall." A stair of

twenty-four steps led down to this apartment, which is a

large and spacious hall, with an arched roof.... From the

floor of this hall another stair of thirty-six steps leads

down to a pit which hath a communication with

Hopeswater....'"

In this instance, the "pit" which communicated with the

neighbouring stream was probably the original underground dwelling;

and if the arch of the "vaulted hall" above it is not of the

"Pelasgic" order, it is to be presumed that the "goblins"[248] who

built it had received fresh ideas from a race possessed of a more

advanced civilization.

The castle of Doune, in Perthshire, is another probable instance of

the mediæval castle evolved from the primitive mound. What is

nowadays known as the castle of "Doune," was formerly spoken of as

"The Dùn (or Doon) of Menteith." "Doune (Dun, no doubt) had once,

where its castle now stands, an ancient fortress; but the name is

all that now remains to bespeak it," says a lady-writer on this

subject.[249] It is very probable, therefore, that the original

"Doon of Menteith" was the mound upon which the present building now

stands; and that this was at one time the chief stronghold of the

district of Menteith. One _doon_, which has apparently never

advanced from its earliest stage, is that of Rothiemurchus, in the

district of Badenoch (Inverness-shire). "A mound which has every

appearance of having been used in ancient times for purposes of

defence stands at the Doun of Rothiemurchus, and is properly the

_Doun_ or _Dun_," says a modern historian of that district.[250]

Such a structure as this seems to combine the dwelling and the

fort; the "hollow hill" having presumably been so constructed as

to render the "crater" on its summit a place of defence. That this

Doon of Rothiemurchus was once inhabited seems clearly indicated.

In speaking of the _ban-sithe_, or fairy woman, already referred

to as the appanage of old Milesian families, Sir Walter Scott

states that "most great families in the Highlands" were thus

distinguished, and that "Grant of Rothiemurcus had an attendant

called _Bodach-an-dùn_";[251] in other words, "The Goblin of the

Doon." And when Scott states, in the _note_ immediately preceding

that just quoted, that "a goblin, dressed in antique armour, and

having one hand covered with blood, called from that circumstance

_Lamh-dearg_, or Red-hand, is a tenant of the forests of Glenmore

and Rothiemurcus," he indicates a tradition that seems to be

connected with the "goblins" of the Doon of Rothiemurchus.[252]

However, although referred to in passing, the Rothiemurchus mound is

not one of those on which a stone castle has been subsequently

reared. But of the latter class an example is furnished by the

"Castle Hill" of Clunie, in Perthshire. It is thus described in Sir

John Sinclair's "Statistical Account":--

"On the western shore of the loch of Clunie stands the old

castle-hill, a large, green mound, partly natural and

partly artificial, on the top of which are the ruins of a

very old building. Some aged persons still alive [in the

end of last century] remember to have seen a small

aperture, now invisible, at the edge of one of the

fragments of the ruins, where, if a stone was thrown in, it

was heard for some time, as if rolling down a staircase.

From this it seems probable that were a section of the hill

to be made, some curious discoveries might be the

consequence."

Resembling Fierna's Hillock, near Limerick, in its having this

"small aperture," communicating with an unexplored vault below, this

Perthshire mound is also celebrated, like Knock-Fierna, for its

association with the "fairies." The castle which once crowned its

summit has more historical memories.

Of this castle, in which, it is said, King Edward I. of England

passed a night, in the course of his triumphant progress through

Scotland in 1296, almost nothing now remains. But a tradition

relating to an earlier period asserts that this place was once a

hunting-seat of Kenneth McAlpin, the ninth-century conqueror of the

Picts (whose king he subsequently became). Although Kenneth, and his

son after him, bore the title of "King of the Picts," it is

tolerably clear that he was a Scot or Milesian by race, and it is

certain that he broke up the power of the Pechts in Central

Scotland. As he was not one of this latter race himself, it is

probable that any "hunting-seat" possessed by him at this place took

the shape of an above-ground building, and that therefore the

memories of the "supernatural" inhabitants of this mound date back

to the time when it was still an unconquered stronghold of the

Pechts. As, however, the suggested "section of the hill" has never

yet been made, nothing definite is at present known regarding the

interior of this mound.

One of the incidents relating to the "goblin" of Rothiemurchus is

included by Mr. J. F. Campbell among the traditions obtained by him

from the district of Badenoch, in Inverness-shire. "The Badenoch

account of the fairies" is stated to be "much the same" as those

from other parts of the Highlands, and they show "that according to

popular belief, fairies commonly carried off men, women and

children, who seemed to die, but really lived underground." A tale

of this kind, "now commonly believed in Badenoch," is to this

effect:--A man who, returning home after a short absence, found that

his wife had disappeared and that another woman had taken her place,

demanded from the latter, on pain of death, to tell him where his

wife had been conveyed to. "She told him that his wife had been

carried to Cnoc Fraing, a mountain on the borders of Badenoch and

Strathdearn." "The man went to Cnoc Fraing. He was suspected before

of having something supernatural about him; and he soon found the

fairies, who told him his wife had been taken to Shiathan Mor, a

neighbouring mountain. He went there and was sent to Tom na Shirich,

near Inverness. There he went, and at the 'Fairy Knoll' found his

wife and brought her back."[253]

Mr. Campbell adds that "the person who related this story pretended

to have seen people who knew distant descendants of the woman"--but

beyond indicating that the tradition is very old, this does not

place these events in any particular century. The localities named,

however, are full of suggestiveness. Of _Cnoc Fraing_, nothing is

known to the present writer. But "Shiathan Mor," to which the woman

is said to have been first taken, signifies "The Great Hill of the

Fairies." Such a name is of very frequent occurrence in the

Highlands. One who is well versed in these matters says: "There is

perhaps not a hamlet or township in the Highlands or Hebrides

without its _shian_ or green fairy knoll so-called. Within half a

mile of our own residence, for example, there is a _Sithean Beag_

and a _Sithean Mor_, a Lesser and Greater Fairy Knoll."[254] In the

Hebridean island of Colonsay, where Martin, the eighteenth-century

traveller, found that "the natives have a tradition among them of a

very little generation of people that lived once here, called

Lusbirdan, the same with pigmies," one finds a "Sheean Mor" and a

"Sheean Beg," along with many other traces of those people.[255] But

it is unnecessary to multiply special instances. It was to a Great

Knoll of the Fairies, then, that the woman was taken, and thereafter

to "Tom na Shirich, near Inverness." This name also signifies "Hill

of the Fairies." _Shirich_, more correctly _Sibhreach_, is

apparently a less common form, equivalent to Sidhfear, Duine Sith,

etc., but it occurs more than once in the "West Highland

Tales,"[256] both as a singular and a plural. When the initial "s"

of _sibhreach_ or _sithreach_, becomes aspirated, after the common

Gaelic fashion, the sibilant is no longer heard; and this is

exemplified in the case of "Tom na Shirich," which is nowadays spelt

as it is pronounced--_Tomnahurich_ (or _Tomnaheurich_, etc.)[257] Of

this Inverness hill much has been written.

It is sometimes called _Tomman-heurich_, and spoken of as a

_tomman_, which connects it with the word _tulman_ or _tolman_,

already referred to. Hugh Miller, in speaking of "that Queen of

Scottish tomhans, the picturesque Tomnahuirich," employs both forms

at the same time, which is contradictory. Pennant, who visited it

last century, refers to it also as a _tomman_. In his _Tour_ he thus

describes "the strange-shaped hill of Tomman heurich:"--

"The Tomman is of an oblong form, broad at the base, and

sloping on all sides towards the top; so that it looks like

a ship with its keel upwards.... It is perfectly detached

from any other hill; and if it was not for its great size,

might pass for a work of art." "Its length at top [is]

about 300 yards; I neglected measuring the base or the

height, which are both considerable; the breadth of the top

[is] only twenty yards."

Captain Burt, in his "Letters from a Gentleman in the North of

Scotland" (Letter XII.) speaks of it as follows:--

"About a mile westward from the town [Inverness] there

rises, out of a perfect flat, a very regular hill; whether

natural or artificial, I could never find by any tradition;

the natives call it _tommanheurach_. It is almost in the

shape of a Thames wherry, turned keel upwards, for which

reason they sometimes call it Noah's Ark. The length of it

is about four hundred yards, and the breadth at bottom

about one hundred and fifty. From below, at every point of

view, it seems to end at top in a narrow ridge; but when

you are there, you find a plain large enough to draw up two

or three battalions of men. Hither we sometimes retire on a

summer's evening.... But this is not the only reason why I

speak of this hill; it is the weak credulity with which it

is attended, that led me to this detail; for as anything

ever so little extraordinary, may serve as a foundation (to

such as are ignorant, heedless, or interested) for

ridiculous stories and imaginations, so the fairies within

it are innumerable, and witches find it the most convenient

place for their frolics and gambols in the night time."

Now, if this large hill, which "might pass for a work of art," was

really, as tradition states, the residence of the little people

known as dwarfs or Pechts, it was clearly an important seat of those

people. And, on regarding them from the historian's point of view,

one finds that this district was specially so distinguished. "When

we can first venture to regard the list of the Pictish Kings

preserved in the _Pictish Chronicle_ as having some claim to a

historical character, we find the king having his seat apparently in

Forfarshire; but when the works of Adamnan and Bede place us upon

firm ground, the monarch belonged to the race of the Northern Picts,

and had his fortified residence near the mouth of the river Ness"

[Inver-Ness]. And the same historian again observes:--"Adamnan,

writing in the seventh century, tells us of the fortified residence

of the king of the Picts on the banks of the river Ness, with its

royal house and gates, of a village on the banks of a lake, and of

the houses of the country people."[258]

Hitherto, the place which has been regarded as most likely the site

of this seventh-century stronghold, is the vitrified fort which

crowns the summit of Craig Patrick (or _Creag Phadruig_), a hill not

far from Inverness. But the top of a hill more than four hundred

feet high can scarcely be referred to as a situation "on the banks

of the river Ness," from which river it is, moreover, two miles

distant.[259] The situation of Tomnahurich, on the other hand, does

exactly answer to the description given. And this "hill," whose

peculiar appearance has attracted the attention of several

travellers, is locally remembered as a celebrated home of the

"Pechts." Nor is it necessary to confine oneself to the

consideration of this hill alone. Adamnan speaks not only of a royal

residence, but also of "the houses of the country people." "The

country people" of whom he speaks were Pechts, and their "houses,"

of course, were "Pechts' houses"; "houses" such as the Fairy Knowe

unearthed at Coldoch, near Doune, already referred to. In other

words _sheeans_. Now, when Hugh Miller speaks of "that Queen of

Scottish tomhans, the picturesque Tomnahuirich," he states that it

belongs to "a wonderful group" of similar mounds "in the immediate

neighbourhood of Inverness." The "houses" of the mound-dwelling

Pechts had one admirable characteristic; they were almost

indestructible. If the King of the Dwarfs had his residence at

Inverness during the seventh century, with "the houses of the

country people," of the same race, scattered all through the

immediate neighbourhood, their dwellings must be there still: and

any one who wanted to localize them would naturally turn to such

mounds as the "wonderful groups" of "tomhans" of which Hugh Miller

speaks.[260]

Inverness, however, was not the only important centre of Pictish

power. Among others, there was Abernethy, a few miles south-east of

Perth. And at this place, says Small, in his "Roman Antiquities of

Fife," the spot wherein the treasures of the Pictish king are

believed to be hidden[261] was guarded by a _droughy_ (_droich_ or

_trow_) who fiercely assailed any invader. Of the Pechts in that

neighbourhood there are many traditions.

A few miles to the west of Abernethy is Forteviot, where Kenneth

MacAlpin, the conqueror and ruler of the Pechts, died in the latter

part of the ninth century. Prior to the successful invasion of

Kenneth's race, this district--like that of Abernethy and all the

country north to Inverness--had been inhabited by Pechts: and

Forteviot is stated to have been a seat of Pictish royalty. Some

miles to the south-west of Forteviot there is a hill called

Ternavie, which has characteristics similar to those of

Tomnahuirich. "Ternavie has been pronounced 'the most remarkable

spot in this parish or neighbourhood.' It is a hill or mound of

earth of a very curious form, occupying, when the Old Statistical

Account was written, 'many acres of ground, covered with a fine

sward of grass, and striking the eye at a distance of several miles.

It resembles in shape the keel of a ship inverted.'" And local

tradition asserts, says the writer quoted from,[262] that once upon

a time, a countryman attempting to obtain turf on the side of this

hill, was suddenly confronted by an old man who emerged from the

hill, "and with an angry countenance and tone of voice asked the

countryman why he was tirring (uncovering) his house over his head?"

This story does not say that the mound-dweller was a dwarf, but here

we have a hill whose appearance suggests that it is at least partly

artificial, and local tradition alleges that it was once inhabited.

And this in the heart of Pictavia, or the country of the Pechts.

In the same county, but farther to the west, there is a locality

which is remembered, like the island on the Ross-shire loch, as a

gathering-place or rendezvous of the little people. It is situated

in the valley of the Forth. The "Fairy Knowes" of Coldoch have

already been spoken of. One of them, it was stated, has been opened,

and its interior shows to the most sceptical that the tradition

which told that it was a home of the dwarfs was absolutely correct.

The other "knowe," some hundreds of yards distant, has not as yet

been touched.[263] But that it, too, was a dwelling of the same

"little people" is almost as certain as if the spade of the

excavator had already done its work.

But the gathering-place referred to lies nearer the sources of the

Forth than the "Fairy Knowe" of Coldoch and the Doune of Menteith.

Like these places, it is situated in the district of Menteith, and

beside the lake of that name, on its south-eastern shore. This

hillock is known as _Cnoc nam Bocan_, or the Knowe of the Goblins,

and we are told that it used to be "the headquarters of the fairies

of the whole district of Menteith." These fairies, it is said, were

employed as the drudges of a former Earl of Menteith, in making the

small peninsula known as Arnmauk, which juts out from the southern

shore of the lake towards the small island of Inchmahome. The earl,

we are told, "in grateful acknowledgment of the work they had done

in forming the peninsula, and wishing to be on good terms with them,

made a grant to them of the north shoulder of Ben Venue; which is to

this day called Coir-n'an-Uriskin, that is, the Cove of the Urisks

or Fairies."[264] At this latter place, says another writer,[265]

"the solemn stated meetings of the order were regularly held";

presumably at a later date.

However, "the north shoulder of Ben Venue" ought probably to be

regarded as the latest "reservation" accorded to these little

people. For, among the many "knowes" in the district of Menteith

which are claimed as their homes, there is one pre-eminently

distinguished. Some miles to the west of the Lake of Menteith is the

village of Aberfoyle, celebrated by Sir Walter Scott, who says of

this locality: "The lakes and precipices amidst which the Avon Dhu

[_Abhainn Dubh_; _i.e._, Black-Water], or River Forth, has its

birth, are still, according to popular tradition, haunted by the

Elfin people.... An eminently beautiful little conical hill, near

the eastern extremity of the valley of Aberfoil, is supposed to be

one of their peculiar haunts, and is the scene which awakens in

Andrew Fairservice[266] the terror of their power." The passage in

"Rob Roy" to which Scott here refers is as follows:--

"A beautiful eminence of the most regular round shape, and

clothed with copsewood of hazels, mountain-ash, and

dwarf-oak, intermixed with a few magnificent old trees,

which, rising above the underwood, exposed their forked and

bared branches to the silver moonshine, seemed to protect

the sources from which the river sprung. If I could trust

the tale of my companion, which, while professing to

disbelieve every word of it, he told under his breath, and

with an air of something like intimidation, this hill, so

regularly formed, so richly verdant, and garlanded with

such a beautiful variety of ancient trees and thriving

copsewood, was held by the neighbourhood to contain, within

its unseen caverns, the palaces of the fairies--a race of

airy beings, who formed an intermediate class between men

and demons, and who, if not positively malignant to

humanity, were yet to be avoided and feared, on account of

their capricious, vindictive, and irritable disposition.

"'They ca' them,' said Mr. Jarvie, in a whisper, '_Daoine

Schie_--whilk signifies, as I understand, men of peace;

meaning thereby to make their gudewill. And we may e'en as

well ca' them that too, Mr. Osbaldistone, for there's nae

gude in speaking ill o' the laird within his ain bounds.'

But he added presently after, on seeing one or two lights

which twinkled before us, 'It's deceits o' Satan, after a',

and I fearna to say it--for we are near the manse now, and

yonder are the lights in the clachan of Aberfoil.'"[267]

To describe this as a "_little, conical_ hill," as Scott does, is

misleading. When viewed transversely, from the opposite bank of the

Blackwater, it has a conical appearance, certainly, as the gable of

a roof has. But when its true length is seen, as when viewed from

the west, this Fairy Knowe of Aberfoyle reveals itself as of the

"hog-back" order, or as was said of Tomnaheurich, like a "Thames

wherry, turned keel upwards." And as for its height, neither Scott's

"little" nor its local name of "Fairy _Knowe_" gives anything like a

true idea of its dimensions. How much of this "knowe" is artificial,

or whether _any_ of it is, remains to be discovered. But if it and

Tomnaheurich have truly had the origin that tradition assigns to

them, then they belong to a class of "hollow hills" which are as

much greater than New Grange ("The Brugh of the Boyne") as New

Grange is greater than Maes-how, or Maes-how than the Broch of

Coldoch. Such a mound as Maes-how may be held to represent the

ordinary Pecht's House or Fairy Hillock; a structure which, though

of artificial origin, may be correctly styled a hillock. But the

Brugh of the Boyne is a "hill," rather than a "hillock." What limits

the mound-builders set themselves is not known. But the people who

were capable of the ideas and the labour implied in such a structure

as "the Brugh of the Boyne" might as well have reared mounds that

were two or three times its size.

This Fairy Knowe is not only known locally by that name, but also

as the Doon,[268] or Doon Hill. If that implies that it was a

fortification, the site was perfect. Protected on its north-eastern

side by the river, and on the south-west by its own almost

precipitous rampart, the Doon of Aberfoyle stands like a sentinel at

what is there called "The Gate of the Highlands." The little valley

which it protects teems with traditions of the dwarfs who are said

to have once dwelt there, and whose dwellings are yet pointed out.

Even yet the old people have many a tale of how the ruling family of

Graham won their possessions there; and one such tale is that which

has just been spoken of, wherein a Graham (Earl of Menteith) appears

as the overlord of the dwarfs. That this family, properly _de_

Graeme, traces its origin to those Anglo-Normans, such as Bruce and

his chief nobles, who were the founders of the Neo-Scottish kingdom,

is quite compatible with the idea that De Graeme's dwarfish

labourers were, historically, Picts; a race distinguished as the

allies of the English and the enemies of Bruce.

Enough has now been said to illustrate what is really the test of

the "realistic" theory of the fairy tales. Tradition has truly

stated, during many generations, that such apparently-natural

hillocks as Maes-how and Coldoch were inhabited by little people.

All archæologists are agreed that many artificial hillocks are at

present standing with their secrets unrevealed. But if, by following

the lead of tradition, we find it a reasonably safe[269] guide to

those primitive habitations, then its statements must deserve a much

fuller and more serious consideration than they have ever yet

received. Either the "realistic theory" is a vain imagination (as it

is believed to be by those who take the "mythological" view of such

traditions), or else it is something of the very greatest

importance; as others, of whom the present writer is one, believe it

to be. Should this method of interpreting the past be proved a true

one, the results which would flow from its acceptance would be

far-reaching indeed. But tradition has yet to establish its right to

be unquestionably regarded as a guide. It may be that every

chambered mound already opened had long had its real nature foretold

by the voice of local tradition. But the surest test of the

authenticity of tradition lies in its future application. It is

known to all archæologists in Western Europe that it is not

necessary to go so far east as Mycenæ to find the chambered mound,

with its dry-stone walls and "Pelasgic" arch. And tradition points

to many a seeming "hillock,"[270] and says that it, too, is a

"treasure-house of Atreus." The question to be decided is, How far

is tradition to be trusted? And the answer can be very easily

obtained.

FOOTNOTES:

[244] For such details see Scott's introduction to "The Monastery,"

etc., etc.; Brand's "Description of Zetland;" and Armstrong's

"Gaelic Dictionary," s.v. "Uruisg."

[245] "Legends of Scottish Superstition," Edinburgh, 1848;

"Maclachlan's Brownie."

[246] "West Highland Tales," I., xlvii.

[247] Although the dwarfs of central England may not rightly be

considered under the name of Picts or Pechts, a chain connecting

them with the people thus called is discernible. Scott says that,

"according to romantic tradition," Kenilworth "had been first

tenanted" by "those primitive Britons" who were "the soldiers of

King Arthur" ("Kenilworth," ch. xxvi). Thus, the early inhabitants

of Kenilworth are equally "fairies" and "primitive Britons." Again,

in Glamorganshire (according to Mr. Wirt Sikes, "British Goblins,"

pp. 6 and 392), there is "a certain steep and rugged crag" which

bears "a distinctly awful reputation as a stronghold of the fairy

tribe," and, in a secret cavern underneath this crag, "Arthur and

his warriors" are believed to be sleeping. While an Edinburgh

tradition, given by Dr. Daniel Wilson ("Memorials," vol. ii. ch.

xix.), states that "King Arthur and the Pechts" have also withdrawn

to a subterranean retreat in the hill which is still known as

Arthur's Seat. Obviously, Arthur, if he ever lived, cannot have

retired into all of these places, but there is, nevertheless, a

vague agreement in these three traditions; and Kenilworth, Arthur's

Seat, and Craig y Ddinas all testify to an identification of Arthur

and his "primitive Britons," with the underground "fairies" and

"Pechts." It may be objected that the tradition of Barbarossa, as in

Rückert's ballad, asleep in his underground castle, with his dwarf

beside him, is evidently of the same origin as those just referred

to. This is manifest. But, before attempting to reconcile

Continental with British tradition, it is important to first

demonstrate, if that may be done, that the British traditions here

spoken of are _historical_ and not _mythological_. (The story of the

Kenilworth fairies will be found at p. 218 of "The Dialect of the

English Gypsies," by B. C. Smart and H. T. Crofton, London, 1875.)

[248] It is impossible to refer here to the many terms used to

denote what is really one class of people; as these terms themselves

show when analyzed. But this term "goblin," although in recent

centuries it has been surrounded with much that is unreal and

fictitious, appears to have been once used in the most ordinary

matter-of-fact way. This will be seen from the following reference

quoted by Dr. Henry Rink ("Danish Greenland," 1877, p. 16), in the

narrative of a Norse visit to Greenland in the eleventh

century:--"One morning Thorgils went out by himself on the ice, and

discovered the carcase of a whale in an opening, and beside two

'witches' (or 'goblins,' evidently Eskimo women), who were tying

large bundles of flesh together. Thorgils instantly rushed upon one

of them with his sword and cut off one of her hands, whereupon both

of them took to their heels." In other words, the eleventh-century

natives of Greenland, whom Dr. Rink believes were Eskimos, were at

once classed by a Norwegian of that period in the same category as

those whom he had been accustomed to call "goblins" in Europe.

[249] Miss C. MacLagan, "Proc. of Soc. of Ant. of Scot." (1st

series), ix. 39.

[250] A. Mackintosh Shaw, "History of the Mackintoshes," 1880, vol.

i. p. 24, _note_. This writer also points out that the word

"Rothimurcus" itself indicates a "fortified mound" or _Rath_.

[251] Appendix to "The Lady of the Lake," Note 2 H.

[252] See also "West Highland Tales," II., 66, for a reference to

this personage.

[253] "West Highland Tales," II., 67.

[254] Rev. Alex. Stewart, F.S.A. Scot., in "Nether Lochaber," Edin.,

1883, p. 20.

He adds: "There is, besides, a _Glacan-t' Shithein_, the Fairy Knoll

Glade, _Tobaran-t' Shithein_, the Fairy Knoll Well; and a deep

chasm, through which a mountain torrent plunges darkling, called

_Leum-an-t' Shithiche_, the Fairy Leap."

[255] See "Proc. of Soc. of Antiq. of Scot." 1880-81, 113 _et seq._

[256] See vol. ii. pp. 48 and 52. The latter page mentions a _Ruadh

na Sirach_, "the Fairies' Point," in the island of Kerrera, near

Oban.

[257] Similarly, a "Fairy Loch" in Argyleshire is spelt _Loch na

Hurich_, and a like example is that of _Glennahuirich_, in Nether

Lochaber.

[258] _See_ Skene's "Celtic Scotland," i. 232; ii. 105-6; and iii.

10.

[259] This discrepancy is pointed out by Dr. Skene, who suggests "a

gravelly ridge called Torvean," and also "the eminence east of

Inverness, called the Crown," as more probable sites. ("Celtic

Scotland," ii. 106, note.)

[260] Hugh Miller, although he confesses himself puzzled as to their

origin, undoubtedly regarded those "tomhans" as entirely natural.

And if it should appear that he was mistaken, there would, in that

event, be a new question opened up; because of the peculiar

characteristics of what he knew as "tomhans."

It is an unfortunate circumstance that any practical attempt at

testing the accuracy of the local tradition regarding Tomnahurich

itself is out of the question, owing to the fact that for many years

its exterior has been used as a burying ground--as more than one

"hollow hill" is known to have been. But "the houses of the country

people" would afford a sufficient test.

[261] A kettle of gold is specially mentioned, and in the "hidden

places" of the fairies of White Cater Thun, near Brechin, a kettle

of gold is also believed to be concealed.

[262] Dr. Marshall, "Historic Scenes in Perthshire," Edinburgh,

1880, p. 263.

[263] Owing, I believe, to the fact that it is on a different

estate. The following remarks by M. T. N. Deane, in his paper on the

"hollow hills" of Knowth and Dowth, in the Boyne valley

("Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy," Dec. 1888, p. 164), may

be aptly quoted here:--"For many years it has been the desire of

antiquaries to explore Knowth, but I regret to say the owner is

unwilling to permit a search being made. I am in great hopes that

when it is fully understood that the vesting of a monument does not

involve an infringement of territorial rights the difficulty will be

overcome, and monuments now neglected will be placed under

supervision."

[264] Marshall's "Historic Scenes in Perthshire," pp. 383-84. Mr.

Grant Stewart, in his "Popular Superstitions" (as quoted in the

_Scots Magazine_, 1823, vol. 13, p. 40), states that "the workmen of

the great Michael Scott were all Fairies; and it is only in that way

that it could be accounted for, that some stupendous bridges in the

north country were built by him in the course of a single night."

With this compare the above statement as to the Earl of Menteith's

workmen, and all the foregoing references to "Pechts" and "Fairies"

in similar circumstances; as also the "fierce tribe of Firbolgic

origin, the _Gowanree_," who are said to have built the earthworks

of the Rath of Cruachan in a single day, working as the unwilling

serfs of an apparently Gaelic lord.

[265] Dr. Graham, "Sketches of the Picturesque Scenery of

Perthshire," Edinburgh, 1806, p. 19.

[266] A slip of Scott's for "Bailie Nicol Jarvie."

[267] See "Rob Roy," chap. xxviii., and Note G.

[268] This spelling is only tentative. On hearing it thus

pronounced, a resident in that district corrected the pronunciation

to _Doo'n_, or _Doo'an_, which may signify a quite different meaning

from _Dùn_.

[269] One would like to regard tradition as infallible in this

respect. But, unfortunately, the age of the "sheeans" is so far

back, that the term may now be used to denote any "conical hill," by

Gaelic-speaking persons. However, a strong and persistent local

tradition would far outweigh this modern misuse of the term

_sithean_, in its general application, if such misuse (of which the

dictionaries give a hint) is really common.

[270] The Continental examples are, of course, very numerous. In

Denmark alone, according to J. M. Thiele, tradition points out as

chambered mounds "two hills, Mangelbierg and Gillesbierg, in the

environs of Hirschholm, on Hösterkiöb Mark": "a hill called

Wheel-hill, at Gudmandstrup, in the Lordship of Odd": "a large knoll

called Steensbierg, at Ouröe, near Joegerspriis": "the high ridge on

which the church stands, at Kundebye, in the Bailiewick of Holbeck";

and, in the same bailiewick, at a place between the towns of Mamp

and Aagerup, "near the Strand": Gultebierg also supplies another to

the list: while "between Jerslöse and Söbierg, lies Söbierg bank,

which is the richest knoll in the land." (For similar references in

this neighbourhood, see also Mr. W. G. Black's "Heligoland.") And

Thorpe's "Northern Mythology" specifies many such mounds. M. Pol de

Mont (in his Flemish "Volkskunde," ii. 5, pp. 89-90) points out an

"Aschberg," at Casterlé, in the province of Antwerp, which is said

to have held fifty _bergmannetjes_, or hill-dwarfs. (With this may

fitly be compared three Eskimo "mounds" at Hopedale, Labrador,

which, though they are now deserted, "more than one hundred persons

of both sexes and all ages are said to have inhabited.") But every

Continental "Venusberg," into which men of the taller race were

tempted by the attractions of the dwarf women, and every "berg" that

is affirmed to have been the residence of a "berg-fee," comes under

the same denomination as the special examples already cited.

CHAPTER XVI.

It is manifest that the traditions relating to "the little people"

contain many statements which at the first sight seem to be

irreconcilable with one another. In one aspect, the dwarf races

appear as possessed of a higher culture than the race or races who

were physically their superiors. They forge swords of "magic"

temper, and armour of proof; beautifully-wrought goblets of gold and

silver, silver-mounted bridles, garments of silk, and personal

ornaments of precious metals and precious stones, are all associated

with them. They are deeply versed in "magic" (a term generally held

to denote the science of the Chaldæan Magi), and this renders them

the teachers of the taller race, in religion, and in many forms of

knowledge. In short, it is only in physical stature that they are

below the latter people: in everything else they are above them. In

another aspect, the positions are reversed. The dwarfs are the serfs

and drudges of the taller race, to whom they are distinctly inferior

in intellectual capacity. The articles associated with them, such as

the primitive arrow-heads of flint, still spoken of as "elf-shot,"

are all indicative of the rudest savagery. They themselves are

accustomed to go without clothes, which, when offered to them by

their masters, they reject indignantly. As great a contrast is

presented by their physique. In some tales, they are fair, and

beautiful in feature, and yellow-haired; in others they are swarthy

in complexion and hair; and again they are described as red-, or

russet-haired. From such conflicting evidence what is one to infer?

Two or three solutions of this question may be offered. One that,

as the Icelander Gudmund said of these people, they were "subject to

poverty and wealth," like the members of any modern nation, which

contains in itself the most violent contrasts. Or, again, that the

fairy tales belong to various epochs, during a long stretch of time,

in the course of which those tribes, like any others, underwent

marked modifications. But what is probably the best solution is that

the dwarf races of the past, like those of the present, were of

various types. That as the South African Bushmen, the dwarfs of the

Congo region, and the Ainos of Japan, though all included among the

dwarf races, are really different from each other in many respects,

so the dwarf races of the past were not one but many. That then,

as now, there were black, yellow and white dwarfs; dissimilar in

their history and characteristics; but all alike in one important

respect. This last explanation, although the two others deserve

consideration, is the one that to the present writer seems the most

important.

To state even a few of the inferences to be drawn from the

acceptance of these explanations, is more than can be attempted

here. It is enough to continue as far as possible to confine these

remarks within the limits already observed; and to keep specially in

view that race which is known to British history as that of the

"Picts." What, then, is the traditional idea of the outward

appearance of these people, apart from their stature?

Scott's "Rob Roy," as he is described in the Glasgow prison, is said

to have greatly resembled the Picts, as they are remembered in

Northumbrian tradition. And when his appearance is again referred to

in a later chapter (ch. xxxii.), one point of this resemblance is

brought out; where it is stated that his legs were "covered with a

fell of thick, short, red hair, especially around his knees, which

resembled in this respect, as well as from their sinewy appearance

of extreme strength, the limbs of a red-coloured Highland bull."

It matters little whether the historical "Robert MacGregor or

Campbell," really answered to Scott's various descriptions of him.

_Rob Ruadh_, or "Red Rob," may no doubt have been fitly applied to

many a native of the British Islands, descended from the race of the

Picts.[271] But this excessive hairiness of skin was one of the most

marked characteristics of the Pechts, and forms indeed one of the

most distinct clues to their ethnological position.

Whatever the man was like himself, however, "Rob Roy's country"

contains, among its other features, that "shoulder of Ben Venue"

which we have seen a former Earl of Menteith is said to have

assigned to the dwarfs, and which is remembered in local tradition

as a great resort of theirs. And a spot specially known as their

gathering-place is called the Coire-nan-Uruisgean, which is rendered

"the Corri, or Den, of the Wild or _Shaggy_ men."[272] Now the same

word here held to represent a "shaggy" man is also a synonym for a

"brownie,"[273] and when we regard such a specimen of that class as

the particular "brownie" that was an attendant of the chief of the

Grants, we find her (for this was a _ban_-sithe, or fairy-_woman_)

known as "May _Mollach_," which signifies "hairy May"; it being

asserted by tradition that this May was distinguished for the

hairiness of her arms.[274] The adjective _molach_ signifies

"hairy,"[275] and, among other uses, it is appropriately given, as a

name, to many a shaggy little "Scotch terrier." But in that part of

Armstrong's "Dictionary"

where this adjective is spelt _maildheach_ and _mailgheach_ (of

which the pronunciation is still _mâl'yach_), its meaning is

defined as "having large shaggy eyebrows." And this, it will be

seen, is specially a characteristic not only of the traditional

dwarfs, but of a race known to ethnology. But it is probable that

the general meaning of "hirsute" is signified when the derivative

noun _mailleachan_ is used as an equivalent of _brownie_ or

_uruisg_;[276] and that a _mailleachan_ was a "hairy one."

Similarly, a special brownie, known as _Pcallaidh an spùit_, or

"Peallaidh of the waterfall," once well known "at those congresses"

"in a certain district of the Highlands,"[277] may be Englished into

"The Shaggy One of the waterfall." Thus, although _uruisg_ does not

literally mean "a shaggy man" (as Scott says), yet there is nothing

wrong in saying that _Coir-nan-Uruisgean_, on Loch Katrine, was "the

Den of the Wild or Shaggy Men"; because various terms and

descriptions applying to those _uruisgean_ show that they were

actually "shaggy men."[278]

No one had a better opportunity of imbibing the traditional idea of

a brownie than the late Mr. J. F. Campbell; whose birth and

upbringing, combined with his great studies in later life, gave him

every chance of learning the various Highland traditions regarding

the appearance of those people. And when, during his stay in

Lapland, he saw a certain Lapp "of the old school," he speaks of him

thus:--"He was an old fellow with long, tangled elf-locks and a

scanty beard, dressed in a deerskin shirt full of holes, and

exceedingly mangy, for the hair had been worn off in patches all

over. He realized my idea of a seedy Brownie, a grua-gach [another

synonym] with long hair on his head; an old wrinkled face, and his

body covered with hair."[279] Of course,

it is not to be understood that the _Lapp_'s body was "covered

with hair." But the deerskin shirt, worn with the hair outwards, was

one of the things that helped out the "brownie" appearance of the

man; for Mr. Campbell's traditional brownie had _his_ body covered

with hair, like the other "shaggy men" we have just been speaking

of. Again, the traditional _brollachan_ or _fuath_ of Sutherland is

described as "rough and hairy."[280] Mr. Campbell also points out

that the _glashan_ of the Isle of Man[281] was the same as those

"shaggy men" of the Scotch Highlands. "He wore no clothes, and was

hairy; and, according to Train's history, Phynoddepee, which means

something hairy, was frightened away by a gift of clothes,--exactly

as the Skipness long-haired Grua-gach was frightened away by the

offer of a coat and a cap. The Manks brownie and the Argyllshire one

each repeated a rhyme over the clothes; but the rhymes are not the

same, though they amount to the same thing."[282] In a certain story

of South-Western Scotland, a brownie is described as a naked, hairy

man; and in a Scotch "chap-book" of the eighteenth century, an old

woman is made to state that the brownies are "a' rough but the

mouth," and that they "seek nae claes" (do not wish any

clothes).[283] The dwarfs of Northumbrian tradition, whether spoken

of by that name or as "Picts," are hairy; and, as just mentioned,

the Isle of Man contains similar evidence. The same thing is

recorded in Wales. In his "British Goblins," Mr. Wirt Sikes not only

describes the _coblynau_ as hairy of skin, but he cites the

well-known account of a sixteenth-century race of "Red Fairies" who

"lived in dens in the ground," and bore several other resemblances

to the Picts of Scotland. These "Red Fairies" have also been

recently cited by Mr. G. L. Gomme, in the course of an article which

points out the survival of savage customs and savage people, within

the British Islands, during recent centuries.[284] The "Red Fairies"

inhabited a certain part of Merionethshire, where it is said that

people inheriting some of their blood are still pointed out. They

are remembered as a race of much-dreaded marauders, their

depredations being carried on in the night time, "and scythes were

fixed in the chimneys of the nearest houses, to prevent the

nocturnal descent of these plundering ruffians." The writer whose

words have just been quoted, contributed an account of these people

to the _Scots Magazine_ of 1823,[285] and he states in this

connection, that "scythes were to be seen in the chimney of a

neighbouring farm-house about thirty years ago, but they have been

since removed." After referring to their various characteristics,

the same writer goes on:--"It appears that the enormities of the

Gwylliaid Cochion Mowddwy [the Red Fairies, or Banditti,[286] of

Mowddwy] had arrived at such a pitch as to render necessary the

interposition of the most prompt and vigorous measures. To this end,

a commission was granted to John Wynne ab Meredith, of Gwedir, and

Lewis Owen, one of the Barons of the Welsh Exchequer, and

Vice-Chamberlain of North Wales. These gentlemen raised a body of

men, and, on Christmas Eve, 1554, succeeded in securing, after

considerable resistance, nearly a hundred of the robbers, on whom

they inflicted chastisement the most summary and effectual, hanging

them on the spot, and, as their commission authorized, without any

previous trial."[287]

A similar race to these "fairies" of Merionethshire seems to be

suggested by the "gubbings" or "gubbins" of Dartmoor. Those people

are described by Fuller, in his "Worthies of England," published in

1662. Readers of Kingsley's "Westward Ho!" will remember "how

Salvation Yeo slew the King of the Gubbings," and the description

given at that place. Mr. R. D. Blackmore seems also to have had the

same race in view in his "Maid of Sker"; although that novel is

placed in the eighteenth century. "Cannibal Jack," or "Jack

Wildman," the most civilized of those Devon savages, is made to

state:--"I was one of a race of naked people, living in holes of the

earth at a place we did not know the name of. I now know that it was

Nympton in Devonshire." As to the origin of the term "gubbing,"

Fuller confesses himself ignorant.[288] But those Devonshire

gubbings were, like the Red Fairies of Wales and the Picts of

Scotland, underground people, or earth-dwellers. It does not seem to

be stated anywhere that the "gubbings" were hairy of skin; but both

in Devon and in Cornwall the underground people otherwise designated

are so described.[289] Altogether the savage "gubbins" of Dartmoor,

as described by Kingsley and others, seem to be practically the same

people as the cave-dwelling "pixies" of Dartmoor, whose occasional

raids into the town of Tavistock are still remembered in local

folk-lore.

This nakedness of the brownie is referred to again and again in the

folk-lore of Scotland. The general belief seems to be that when he

was offered clothes in return for his labour he left the place where

he had been working, in high dudgeon. Other accounts indicate that

he accepted the clothes without demur. But the indications that the

"shaggy men" were naked men, are numerous. And when Mr. Campbell

says that "the Highlanders distinguish between the water and land or

_dressed_ fairies,"[290] he clearly infers that one section of the

little people was remarkable for the entire absence of dress.

Indeed, it was this peculiarity that, as the various stories show,

offended the delicacy of the womenfolk at those farms where

"brownies" worked, and so led to the offer of clothing, by way of

wages. And, of course, the reason why their special hairiness of

skin is so well remembered is because their own shaggy coats formed

all their clothing; and probably answered the purpose very well.

Outside the British Islands there are plenty of similar traditional

accounts. The Scandinavian trolls, or dwarfs, of the Eddas were

hairy; and so was the German dwarf. The latter has one name, that of

_Bilwiz_, said to be derived from a word denoting matted hair; and

we are told that "the Bilwiz shoots like the elf, and has shaggy or

matted hair."[291] And he, there can be little doubt, is the same as

the "little forest-man." For the same authority[292] states that

"little forest-men, who have long worked in a mill, have been scared

away by the miller's men leaving clothes and shoes for them." And if

these nude and hairy "little people" were not of the same race as

the hirsute brownies of Scotland, they were remarkably like them in

several striking characteristics. With them also may be compared the

shaggy dwarfs remembered in Brittany under the name of _viltansou_,

who are doubtless the same as the long-bearded _barbao_ of the same

province. (_See_ M. Sébillot's list of such names in the "Revue des

Traditions Populaires," Feb. 1890, pp. 101-104.)

The German traditional idea of the mound-dwelling, metal-working

dwarf people, is nowhere more perfectly given than in the etching

which is here reproduced, and which is the work of a German

engraver. It forms the base of a title-page, executed about thirty

years ago,[293] consecrated to the memory of the great Barbarossa,

whose figure occupies the centre of the title-page, and whose

achievements are otherwise symbolically indicated. It is understood

to be a facsimile of the base of Barbarossa's statue. The little

gnomes, then, underneath him, are clearly meant to represent his

companions in the "berg" where he and they are popularly believed to

be still living--whether that be the Thuringian Kyffhäuser, or the

Untersberg, near Salzburg. And the hairiness of skin, so

characteristic of the Scottish _brownie_ or _pecht_, is equally

marked in this case. The term "shaggy men" could be applied to them

with very great appropriateness. And if the artist has not made them

as destitute of clothing as the "brownies" and "forest-men" are said

to have been, yet what they do wear only serves to remind one of the

red-cap of the traditional Lincolnshire dwarfs, and others of the

same class, and of the "apron" so often mentioned in connection with

the dwarfish builders of England and Scotland. It is not to be

supposed that this picture represents in every detail the dwarfs of

German or other traditions, nor is it to be supposed that any single

account gives an absolutely correct idea of the appearance of those

primitive races, but this will be generally recognized as being, on

the whole,[294] a wonderfully good representation of the dwarfs of

German folk-lore.

But this characteristic of the dwarfs of Scottish tradition and of

the "Picts" of history does not tend to show that such people were

_identical_ with the modern Lapps. Nor, indeed, is this to be looked

for.

[Illustration: THE DWARFS OF GERMAN FOLK LORE.]

A race which was in its prime two thousand years ago may have

many points in common with one or another of the modern races

(presumably its own descendants, in some measure); but absolute

identity of type can hardly be expected, if one considers the

crossing, re-crossing, and in some cases almost the extermination of

the various races of Europe during that period. At any rate, this

marked hairiness of skin, attributed to the Pict, or Pecht, or

dwarf, is not a Mongoloid characteristic. It is certainly not

_Mongolian_; and although some divisions of the Mongoloid

group--such as the Eskimos of Labrador--are described as wearing

moustaches and beards, this fact, even if it be not exceptional,

goes a very little way towards suggesting an actually hirsute

ancestor. Had there been less doubt about the matter, one might have

supposed that the hairy skin-garments of those Northern races had

been erroneously assumed in the traditional tales to be the natural

skin of their owners; and, indeed, the pictures of the modern

Eskimos in their winter dress of skins with the hair outside, gives

quite the appearance of a race of hairy little men. But the nudity

of the historical Picts, and certain sections of the traditional

dwarfs, or brownies, is beyond all doubt. To the Latin writers, as

to the housewives of legendary history, this was equally an

unmistakable and objectionable fact.

There is, however, an existing race that offers itself as akin to

those traditional dwarfs in this respect, as well as in some others;

although the modern Lapps, in several of their characteristics, also

suggest that a not insignificant line of their ancestry is traceable

to the same origin. The race referred to is that of the "hairy

Kuriles," or Ainos of Japan; included by ethnologists among the

modern dwarf races.

"Twelve hundred years ago," says Mr. E. B. Tylor, "a Chinese

historian stated that 'on the eastern frontiers of the land of Japan

there is a barrier of great mountains, beyond which is the land of

the Hairy Men.' These were the Aino, so named from the word in their

own language signifying 'man.' Over most of the country of these

rude and helpless indigenes the Japanese have long since spread,

only a dwindling remnant of them still inhabiting the island of

Yezo. Since the early days when a couple of them were sent as

curiosities to the Emperor of China, their uncouth looks and habits

have made them objects of interest to more civilized nations."[295]

Of their own traditions, another writer states:--"To them the past

is dead, yet, like other conquered and despised races, they cling to

the idea that in some far-off age they were a great nation. They

have no traditions of internecine strife, and the art of war seems

to have been lost long ago. I asked Benri [a chief] about this

matter, and he says that formerly Ainos fought with spears and

knives, as well as with bows and arrows, but that Yoshitsuné, their

hero god, forbade war for ever, and since then the two-edged spear,

with a shaft nine feet long, has only been used in hunting

bears."[296] Yoshitsuné, it may be explained, is stated (_op. cit.

infra_, II. 94, _note_) to have been the brother of a Japanese

general of the twelfth century, famous for his victories over

"barbarians." This tradition, therefore, if accepted without

reserve, would place the conquest of the Ainos by the Japanese, with

the consequent disarming of the former, somewhere about the twelfth

century. And the scene of this struggle may be placed south and west

of their present home. "The inference from records and local names,

worked out with great care by Professor Chamberlain, is 'that the

Ainos were truly the predecessors of the Japanese all over the

Archipelago. The dawn of history shows them to us living far to the

south and west of their present haunts; and ever since then, century

by century, we see them retreating eastwards and northwards, as

steadily as the American Indian has retreated westwards under the

pressure of the colonists from Europe.'"[297]

"As is well known, the hairiness of the Ainos marks them sharply

off from the smooth-faced Japanese. No one can look at photographs

of Ainos without admitting that the often-repeated comparison of

them to bearded Russian peasants is much to the purpose. The

likeness is much strengthened by the bold quasi-European features of

the Aino contrasting extremely with the Japanese type of face."[298]

"The expression of the face and the manner of showing courtesy are

European rather than Asiatic," says Miss Bird, who has lived among

these people; and she again remarks, on a later page, "I am more and

more convinced that the expression of their faces is European."[299]